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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29658834">The Last Guardian</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/warraw/pseuds/warraw'>warraw</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Anal Sex, Biting, Body Worship, Charles You Slut, Charles is a Sweetheart, Dirty Talk, Dom/sub Undertones, Drama &amp; Romance, F/M, M/M, Magic, Multi, Mystery, Oral Sex, Sex Talk, Sexual Content, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Tension, Smut, Submission, Tragic events, mild blood kink, sword and sorcery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:26:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>22,333</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29658834</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/warraw/pseuds/warraw</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The ashes of the Great Breach have settled across human kingdoms about ten years ago. Logan has seen more than a few lifetimes of battles and is retreating to the solitude of a lonely life. He never expected to come across the man from his past, who might be right in the center of dark sorcery threatening the world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Charles Xavier/Other(s), Emma Frost/Charles Xavier, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Logan (X-Men)/Charles Xavier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Throughout the long day, Logan was pushing towards the mountain range. He dismounted to let the horse rest only as he passed the cracked stone sign announcing the start of the Western Pass. Old citadel ruins loomed far ahead on the lone hill. The sky hung low, heavy with clouds.<br/>
<br/>
The horse was trotting along sluggishly, one big, dark eye eyeing him wearily. Logan stared back. At thick layers of dirt caked around the hooves. A muddy, tangled tail was not much better. Logan was sure he was not any better too.</p><p>A thunderclap came out of nowhere.</p><p>Startled, he looked up.</p><p>A bright flash and a distant crash came right from the citadel. Logan swore as he saw the huge seal appear above it in the skies. It boomed outwards — a prickling wave of mana rolled by. The power behind it was so great, that even from this distance he felt an electrifying chill. The ground shook too. The reverberations of magic reaching as far as the tract.</p><p>Damn mages, he thought darkly; he squinted as one of the towers came crumbling down.</p><p>It got eerily quiet afterward.</p><p>Well, Logan shrugged. He entertained the idea of camping in the ruins for the night. He had to look elsewhere now.</p><p>He pulled the horse along. The animal seemed to be frozen from fear, ears flat and body trembling.</p><p>He pulled again. The horse wasn’t budging though.</p><p>“Come on,” he clapped the horse on the flank in encouragement and that set the stupid beast off. Cheap, old reins snapped in Logan’s grip and he could only watch as the horse galloped straight ahead with all his meager belongings.</p><p>Logan took his sweet time cursing.</p><p>The horse must be very tired, dumb beast could not run far, he told himself and dutifully followed. The horse was truly a demon’s spawn though, sensing his approach and speeding up every single time he almost caught it. It was leading him on in circles. Meanwhile, the skies cleared up and the sun was about to sink when Logan realized that the horse disappeared behind the crumbled outer wall of the citadel.<br/>
<br/>
When he stepped within its walls, the first thing he saw was his damn horse just by the crumbled tower. Next, he heard a groan and looked to his right. The fellow, who was about to get to his knees saw Logan and raised his head to squint at him. His dusty, fancy robes and a greying beard told Logan what to expect before the man as much as thought of conjuring a spell. He leapt to the side, and, just as the blast whooshed by, he sprang forward. His fists hammered down the mage’s head, smashing his face into the ground with a distinct crunch.</p><p>Logan straightened up, loosened the loop holding his axe, taking a more careful look around. There was a battle here. It was very brief, yet intense. He took a step towards his horse, noting the arrows littering the ground and the bodies prone and already claimed by death. They died as they stood, in the circle, whether thrown and smashed into the stone with immense force or torn apart by spellwork.</p><p>He approached his horse carefully sidestepping sharp rubble. The beast had its head lowered, nosing something among the fallen stones.  </p><p>It was the back of someone’s dark head, the torso half-buried under the rubble. The damn horse neighed quietly. Logan used this opportunity to catch the torn reins. Satisfied, he pulled the beast closer and swiftly refastened the reins.</p><p>He glanced back one more time while leading the horse away. His eyes caught the sight of the arrow sticking out of the fallen man’s shoulder. Logan took a few more steps before he cursed to himself softly and turned back.</p><p>For several heartbeats he and the horse stood there, staring at the man. I can at least check if the fellow is dead, Logan finally decided. He lifted the stones first. The man didn’t even stir. He didn’t stir when Logan rolled him to his back too.</p><p>Logan viciously cursed again, because the face he saw was a familiar one. Of all his lovers… The ones that left him and never came back he remembered the most. Besides, this pretty, sneaky kid from ten springs ago did not age a day.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p><br/>
<br/>
It took Logan nearly half a night to find a cave fit to be a shelter. All around him, the pass was bare save for low thorny bushes and anthills. The horse was barely moving under Charles’ dead weight. Logan ignored the voice whispering that if those arrows sticking of him and the collapsed tower didn’t kill him, being slung over the saddle like that just might do the job.</p><p>He dragged the beast forward until he found what he was looking for.</p><p>Charles was white and still when he laid him down on his front on his bedroll. The skin of his neck was burning though, hot like molten metal.</p><p>Logan set the small fire by the bedroll, then turned back to Charles. He used the knife to tear and rip the robes from his back, leaving the arrows in. By firelight, he could see that the two of the arrowheads were not too deep, the one stuck in the lad’s lower back was another story. The bleeding has already stopped. Logan stood up and walked up to his horse to fetch a leather canteen. He then poured the liquid right on the arrowheads and began.</p><p>Charles finally convulsed and cried out when he pulled out the last of the arrows. Barely conscious, he started twisting and gasping for breath, obviously in agony. Logan held him down until Charles ran out of strength, well aware of leaving more bruises on his already badly battered back.</p><p>“Lie still,” he ordered harshly.<br/>
<br/>
He needed to clean the wounds and wrap them up. Then the lad could roll around as much as he wanted. Should they survive till morning, he would have to see about cauterizing the wounds, Logan thought grimly.</p><p>When he finished, Logan put a blanket over the shivering mage and went out of the cave. He did what he could. Now he needed to get ready.</p><p>They came when the pre-dawn was thick and the sky was dark and cold.</p><p>Four riders emerged from the dark, mounts slow to climb the rocky part of the pass at night. Logan sniffed. Three more crawling up the hill to the cave entrance he was sitting at.</p><p>“I know you have taken him,” one hunched horseman half-whispered, yet his words hissed like snakes through the night.</p><p>“What took you so long?” Logan stood up, using his axe as a crunch. “I got bored here with only this dim-witted animal for company.”</p><p>He gestured to his hobbled horse, who was badly shaking again. Truth be told, Logan didn’t count on the beast surviving the night.</p><p>“Wait,” another rider moved forward, pulling down his hood. He was a young, thin-faced man who was holding the reins like a squire. “You can leave. We only need the sorcerer.”</p><p>“Is that so?” Logan shook his head. “No, that kid owes me.”</p><p>The bolt of lightning hissed through the air when Logan was already moving. It always surprised his enemies that the man of his build could be that fast. His axe flew through the air right into the hunched mage’s chest. It tore him from the horseback and Logan leapt over the horse tackling the rider next to the mage. He fell on top of the man and rolled over, using the body as a shield for a crossbow bolt.</p><p>Logan stood up then, calmly lifting and tossing the dead man’s body aside.</p><p>The man with a crossbow and the squire were staring him down. From thin sheaths on his vambraces, Logan produced two steel knives. Blades struck down the fellow who crawled up almost to the cave entrance from the dark.</p><p>“Enough,” ordered the squire suddenly.</p><p>In his hand, he was clutching a drawn sword pulsing with light.</p><p>Logan groaned. The abrupt illumination hurt his eyes.</p><p>The squire mistook it for something else though, because he cried out in glee, charging at Logan. It was always easy to evade horsemen, who had a limited attack range. Sticking the remaining knife in the horse’s eye worked as well.</p><p>A sharp blow to his chest made him look up from snapping the stunned squire’s neck.</p><p>A bolt was sticking out of his vest. He swore from pain as he tore the bolt out and stood up. The silence stretched taut. He stood still and watched the last of the horsemen and the two scouts until they faltered. They scrambled back where they came from, disappearing from his sight.</p><p>“Fuck this,” Logan then gritted out and sank down to his knees.</p><p>He forgot. Getting shot hurt like bitch. Weakness flowed through him, as he clenched his teeth. Blood bubbled up in his mouth, so he spit it, slowly raising back to his feet.</p><p>Back in the cave, he crumbled by the fire, wheezing. Must not fall asleep. Must not. He looked sideways at Charles. Not a stir. Only a mop of hair sticking out of the blanket. The lad had either died already or instinctively covered himself up. Good for him.</p><p>Logan stared at the uneven, cracked ceiling.</p><p>He did not fall asleep but he was not awake either. He swam through in-between, where voices of the past were calling upon him until he found himself in bed with the blue-eyed, eager boy with the mouth full and red from sucking and kissing. He was such a fucking tease: always, always pushing for more. More fucking, more attention. The kid from his memory, who was nestling by his side, using Logan’s forearm as a pillow, suddenly grinned, subtly reaching to fondle Logan’s cock. Under his touch Logan’s recovery time was non-existent.</p><p>“Suck it or fuck it?” asked Logan and Charles spurted a laugh.</p><p>“Oh lord, you are impossible,” he reproached, lips curling up, as he let go of Logan’s cock.</p><p>“Who is to say?” Logan was both sleepy and aroused.</p><p>“What do you want?” asked Charles then.</p><p> Arrogant he was, indeed, but he was also playing honestly.</p><p>“Your ass,” Logan rolled over and stepped down on the floor. “Get your legs up and spread.”</p><p>He obeyed beautifully. A mix of shameless want and youthful insolence, the mage who would spread his legs for Logan and beg for his cock.</p><p>“You are such a whore,” Logan pressed in between his legs, hooking his knees with his elbows.</p><p>His cock pressed along Charles’ as he leaned down to nuzzle up his chest. Such nice, smooth skin. Begging to have the teeth sunk in. He could see himself biting this sweet, young flesh until the skin broke and blood started pooling from the teeth marks. Warm. Salty and sweet.</p><p>“I don’t mind,” Charles whispered softly and Logan, confused, looked up.</p><p>They were almost eye to eye like that.</p><p>Charles’ blue ones were blown wide, shining with something eerie.</p><p>“Getting into my head again,” Logan grumbled, but as Charles’ expression fell, he continued with a smirk. “Fine with me. I never had a whore read my mind. You are the first.”</p><p>The boy’s cock jumped at the name-calling as usual. Logan often used it to his advantage when he was inside him. It made him clench ever so tightly.</p><p>“I will fuck you until you are loose with it and mark you well,” Logan promised, latching onto a patch of soft skin just below the nipple. He sucked it in, drawing a pained gasp from Charles and then a moan when his teeth sank in deep.</p><p>Charles’ wet, quiet cries accompanied each bite, each broad lick of Logan’s tongue. Logan did fuck him good that day, relishing the heat and tightness through his cock and drinking in the sight of the chest and collarbones thoroughly messed up.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Late in the morning, Logan had finished cleaning the horse when he heard something akin to the groan from inside the cave. He wiped his hands and went in, fetching a refilled canteen.</p><p>Charles turned on his side and now attempted to sit up, grimacing in pain. The blanket slid down, revealing his bruised torso and arms. He didn’t manage to hold himself up and had to lay down again, visibly bracing himself when his back hit the bedroll.</p><p>“Can you heal yourself?” Logan decided not to waste any time, coming up and holding out the canteen.</p><p>Charles squinted up at him through blood-shot eyes.</p><p>“I’m not sure,” he gulped. “Who are you?”</p><p>Did he hit his head too?</p><p>He took the canteen without questioning though. Logan watched him try to swallow water. Most of it spilled over as Charles strained to take in a mouthful. </p><p>“Thank you,” he said finally and Logan took the canteen back.</p><p>He squatted beside Charles.</p><p>“You don’t remember me?” he wanted to confirm.</p><p>Charles scrunched up his nose, frowning. Funny as it was, Logan did register a pang of deep disappointment, surprising himself the most.</p><p>“Oh,” Charles muttered, as what was left of colour drained from his face. “Might it be that we met more than ten years ago?”</p><p>“And?”</p><p>“I’m sorry then, my friend,” Charles looked up earnestly, “I have traded my memories just around that time.”</p><p>“What for?” Logan scowled. He never heard of such magic pacts.</p><p>“For my Master’s life. And for mine.”</p><p>Charles attempted to sit up again. This once Logan silently helped him up.</p><p>Panting from exhaustion, Charles sagged forward into his arms. His body was badly beaten, the skin raw and already purple. Logan knew that it could have been much, much worse though. Especially that arrow in his lower back. He quickly checked the bandages, while Charles was hunching over. He was trembling, but didn’t make a sound when Logan was pouring a potion over the torn flesh. After he put the bandages back again, he let Charles recover his breath and went out.</p><p>With the horse already tended to, he went about disrobing the dead squire, cursing as the stiff limbs refused to bend. If not for his injury, he would have done it earlier. But he needed some time to rest and let his body heal, he could not jump back into a fight like he used to. Those days were over.</p><p>Logan dropped the clothes next to Charles, who was sitting with his eyes closed and expression tight. The air around him glimmered, only barely, with bluish light. Oh, well, there was no time for this.</p><p>“Hey,” Logan said, “we are leaving.”</p><p>Charles seemed startled when Logan’s voice tore him out of a trance. He blinked a few times. The eerie blue shine in his eyes died. He looked lost when he glanced at the pile of clothes Logan brought for him.</p><p>“Put this on. Can you ride?” Logan asked.</p><p>“Can I?” Charles shook his head weakly. “Wait. What did you say? Did they find me?”</p><p>“Yes. Killed a few, but something is telling me they are coming back.”</p><p>“You,” Charles’ eyes found his. “I don’t even know your name.”</p><p>“It’s Logan.”</p><p>“Logan,” he choked, “I thank you for saving my life. I will be in your debt.”</p><p>“Don’t read too much into it, Chuck.”</p><p>“That is not my name,” he protested.</p><p>“I don’t care,” Logan smirked. It slipped and so be it. “Come on, we have to reach the forest today. It is much easier to cover the tracks there. I did not waste time dragging you with me and patching you up for nothing.”</p><p>Charles looked at him with both guilt and defiance.</p><p>“I need time to restore my reserves. Then I can teleport us wherever necessary.”</p><p>“Can you, though? With these wounds? You look on the verge of collapsing, mage. If you are so certain, you are welcome to stay and try. I need my bedroll and blanket back.”</p><p>He made a shooing motion and was greeted with a flash of indignation on Charles’ face.</p><p>“You are impossible,” Charles sighed and his posture slumped even more so. “I can try riding. My back hurts so much I won’t be able to walk, I’m afraid,” he softly admitted, then closed his eyes. “I will put a compulsion on the area. It might confuse the scouts.”</p><p>He laid one hand on the ground, concentrating. The seal that spread out was hardly visible, threads of magic thin and frail. Charles began to cough right after opening his eyes. It rattled.</p><p>Damn mages and their stubborn ways.</p><p>Charles was dangerously swaying in the saddle, but his grip on the reins was right and steady. Logan checked. He was walking by his side, his stride matching the mare’s moderate pace, and he was deliberately studying Charles. It was his call to push the mage to leave the camp and he hoped he made the right choice.</p><p>Charles’ eyes never strayed from the crown of the horse’s head. Logan saw him gulp down a lump from time to time, as though he was afraid he might be sick. Charles had a nice, clear-cut profile framed by rich brown hair reaching his shoulders. His face was all smooth lines and surprisingly expressive eyebrows. Logan labelled him pretty when he saw him for the first time. He privately thought he was beautiful when he first saw him come undone. Now the mage was ashen-faced, his mouth pressed tight and eyes dull, his spirit exhausted.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Charles had last and first ridden a horse a long time ago when he was Emma’s guest at her villa by the lake. At the time, it was a ride full of wonder. He had hardly left the Tower before and Erik always accompanied him. This once he was on his own.</p><p>The past and the present were merging, twisting inside his head. The real world faded into a warm, summer afternoon.</p><p>It felt like Emma was riding side by side with him, offering him riding advice and commenting on his success or a lack of it with her usual wit. When they stopped to have some wine and cheese by the creek, he leaned to kiss her, mesmerized by her beauty and drunk on conflicting emotions. He laid with her then, pulled in by her sly smile and a tugging sensation deep in his gut. He recalled how tight and hot his skin felt when he inched inside her, how the urge to chase that strong sensation doubled the speed and force, with which he was thrusting into her. He grew bolder, mouthing her perfect, round breasts and stroking her wet clit, energized by the way her body was responding and squeezing his cock. When he came, hard, he felt like he utterly consumed her and was utterly consumed by her.</p><p>Afterward, they stretched together on the blanket, not even bothering to cover up. Charles glanced sideways and found Emma watching him with a gentle expression, so uncommon on her face.</p><p>“My darling,” she said, cupping his cheek with one hand and making Charles turn to her.</p><p>Those were the only words said between them that evening, caught as they were, by fierce and unrelenting desire.</p><p>“… can you smell it too? Are you listening?” Logan’s deep grumble shook him.</p><p>Charles stirred and was thrown back in the world of a fiery agony that was his back and his legs, badly chaffed against the horse’s flanks. He fought the urge to let go of the reins and give in to pain tearing at him.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Logan put a large hand on his knee, giving him a squeeze.</p><p>Charles mutely shook his head, fearing that should he speak he might lose whatever dried meat Logan made him chew on earlier.</p><p>Cursing, Logan scanned the distant line of trees to the north. Charles tried to concentrate, he really did. They planned to lose their pursuers in the forest today, but the forest was still too far away. And the night was already falling. He studiously ignored all his injuries screaming at him and looked down at deep trails crossing their path. Logan was telling something about the smell, right? In the skies, black crows were circling a ravine in the distance, their cries excited and greedy.</p><p>Charles suddenly felt a jolt of alarm at the twisted wrongness of the ley lines ahead. It made him release the reins.</p><p>Logan, bless him, caught him and helped him down. Charles’ head was spinning too much to manage it on his own. Besides, he pointed to himself logically — he could not walk properly. Dismounting the mare took quite a skill too.</p><p>“You are burning up again,” Logan said, casually patting Charles’ forehead with his rough palm.</p><p>Charles found himself leaning into the touch.</p><p>“So hot,” he complained to Logan. “By the way, someone must have just summoned a demon over there, I think.”</p><p>“Did you guess by the stench?” Logan then grabbed Charles by the shoulders and peered into his eyes. “Demon or not, at the rate you are burning up you will die.”</p><p>All Charles felt was numbness spreading through him. Even the fear retreated.</p><p>“You have to heal yourself somehow, as best as you can. I know you can think of something, you did before.” Logan said urgently and cursed. “Damn, you don’t remember that.”</p><p>Charles could not even put two words together anymore. He was so tired, so damn tired. He has been pushed well over his limit by the attack. First, they came after the children. Betsy’s scream chased him as he was pulled by the alien magic into the teleportation seal. He was fighting non-stop, the spells and equations of his creation always a step ahead of anything thrown at him. However, just as Erik used to say, he was vulnerable. His reserves were great by any mortal means, but hardly endless. His shields honed to perfection, but not absolute.</p><p>Logan’s face swam in front of his eyes, so he closed them just for a beat.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p><br/>Charles collapsed.</p><p>One moment he seemed to be straining to listen to Logan, and though the look in his eyes flickered between vacant and aware, Logan had counted on him.</p><p>The exhaustion and the wounds won, claiming Charles, and for a brief moment Logan simply stood there, with an armful of a dying lover, who did not even recall him, and a stench of rotten flesh getting more and more intense.</p><p>He carefully lowered Charles to the ground and turned around.</p><p>The bold, blind creature that was crawling out of the ravine screamed. The wind screamed with it.</p><p>It was moving blindly now, like a newborn. Its’ giant skeletal body was covered with lumps of dead flesh. Logan scanned the horizon for the beast’s master and found nothing. The summoner was probably hiding. This overwhelming stench made it impossible for Logan to locate them by smell alone.</p><p>Logan had lived through almost dying again and again. It was his cruel fate to re-experience that which people experience once. Logan also lived by his gut instinct. The instinct honed by a lifetime of dangerous exploits told him who and when to kill. The instinct told him when to lay low, retreat or attack. It was telling him now that he must grab his stupid horse, ditch all his saddlebags and try to outrun the monster.</p><p>Why had he rescued Charles? The question didn’t torment him much until now.</p><p>Charles was as good as dead. He had been running a fever for a while, the one that came with the injuries and claimed even seasoned warriors. Much tougher than a soft sorcerer, whose hands never lifted anything heavier than a quill.  </p><p>Why did he have to find him? After all these years. And what for?</p><p>The skeletal demon made of the dead finally crawled out of the ravine. Its' gouged skull had the empty eye sockets trained on Logan.</p><p>Logan grimly clasped his axe tight. He made his mind.</p><p>If the Chaos itself led him here to die, he would die fighting.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charles remembered the last time he was about to die very well. It had been at the start of his new life, for the rest of it was lost forever. He remembered the piercing pain and warm, heavy numbness overtaking him before the power from beyond came to his aid. The Guardians of the past stood by him, led his hand, and together they prevailed. Together they cast the Prime Demon back to Hell and that, he would later learn, closed the breaches all over the continent.</p>
<p>His soul connection, so bright in the beginning when he was still weak and confused, his heart filled with so much grief and suffering, unnamed and unremembered, was fading with time. Until all he could hear were gentle whispers of the long gone. Erik said it was fine. Erik warned him against relying too much on the spiritual imprints of the mages from the past. They were just shards of consciousness within, disjointed and fragmented — he had been saying with a skeptical twist to his mouth. Charles had been drinking up everything Erik had been feeding him at the time, though an ever-zealous student in him mutely noted a bit of his teacher’s bias: it was painfully obvious that it was Erik himself, who hated relying on others.</p>
<p>He learned the ways of the mystical plane as good as was possible on his own, so Charles did not get surprised when he found himself on the hill by the Tower, his soul home. A strong wind was blowing white, fluffy clouds away. Fields, beautiful and green, stretched out in the distance, reaching as far as the village. Ah, summertime. Charles’ heart squeezed in his chest painfully. He always loved it so much.</p>
<p>“Charles, Charles!” a thin voice called and Charles quickly turned to catch an armful of Betsy barreling into him head-on.</p>
<p>“Oh, my dearest girl,” he swallowed a sob, kneeling and pressing her close.</p>
<p>Her tiny arms wound around his neck and Charles desperately clutched her back.</p>
<p>“Charles, Charles,” she chanted into his ear breathlessly, “why are you here?”</p>
<p>Charles could not say a word anymore. He wept.</p>
<p> Betsy tugged at his hair to get his attention.</p>
<p>“Why are you here?”</p>
<p>Charles smiled through the tears streaming down his face.</p>
<p>“I am here to join you, you see,” he said gently.</p>
<p>Betsy made a protesting noise, sliding from his embrace, quick like a fish. </p>
<p>“You can’t,” she told him sternly, her eyes flashing.</p>
<p>Charles could not meet her gaze. He had failed them. He had compromised himself badly by letting his guard down. A refrain ‘Erik was right’ was circulating in his head.</p>
<p>“Are you sad?” Betsy poked him in the arm.</p>
<p>Charles smiled, wearily. He nodded because the children deserved the truth.</p>
<p>“You can’t be here,” Betsy repeated with insistence her six-year-old self was famous for. “Look here, look!”</p>
<p>Charles turned his head in the direction her finger was pointing in.</p>
<p>The Tower was shaking. Its’ very foundation was rocking and cracks were spreading up. The wind wailed as the rolling waves of darkness were swallowing up the sky.</p>
<p>“There shall be another one,” Charles felt terrible disbelief seep into him on the sight. “It cannot fall…”</p>
<p>“You are the last.”</p>
<p>Betsy’s eyes turned pitch black and her voice was cutting through the wind as if it was nothing.</p>
<p>“You are the one with the Tower and the Tower is the one with you.”</p>
<p>Charles recoiled, his blood turning to ice.</p>
<p>“Forgive me,” he crumbled, struck to the core and cold, so cold from the realization. “Oh lord, what have I done?”</p>
<p>The eldritch scream, full of triumph, shook the Tower. Charles knew that scream, he dreamt of it on bad nights. </p>
<p>“I am so sorry, everyone,” he said, numb. “I have nothing left.”</p>
<p>“Wrong. You have us,” Betsy said and a shadowy silhouette just behind her came into view.</p>
<p>It was Betsy’s elder brother, with his hand on her narrow shoulder. Behind him Amara and Calvin were standing, their souls together even in the afterlife.</p>
<p>Humbled, Charles lowered his head as shadows came over him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> ***</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Logan rolled over, blocking the claw with his axe. The monster roared, angry that his prey appeared so unwilling to die. Logan had yet to break any important bones, but it was going to happen sooner rather than later. He tried breaking the demon’s leg by smashing his axe into the joint, but the thing reacted with another shrill scream as the limb reformed itself right in front of his eyes.</p>
<p>He decided not to draw the beast away from Charles. Something told him that it would be what the enemy wanted. Logan was cutting, smashing and breaking dead bones and flesh. Yet, the beast was nefarious. It did not feel any pain. Its’ wounds did not inconvenience it at all. Logan knew that his instinct to run was a good one. He could fight any form of life. Hell, he probably did. He could not fight the dead summon. As his hand swang the axe one more time, he sensed a shift in the creature.</p>
<p>Ah, Logan swore under his breath, of course. The sunset.</p>
<p>Sweat was beading on his brow and he resisted the urge to wipe it, knowing that the next few moments were critical.</p>
<p>With the last sunrays leaving the valley the monster rippled. Its’ bulk grew coated in black, acrid mist, controlled by the sorcerer from the distance. Whenever the mist touched the ground, it left burned out, grey imprints on it.</p>
<p>A chill hit Logan, like a demon was crossing his grave.</p>
<p>He gritted his teeth before it struck him. The chill he felt was coming from behind.</p>
<p>He slowly turned, keeping one eye on the monster.</p>
<p>Charles was standing where Logan had left him, his face remarkably pale and eyes as dark as the cursed mist burning the ground.</p>
<p>The chill Logan felt was a timeless threat, the threat that saw everything and cared for nothing.</p>
<p>“Logan,” Charles said harshly. “You may step back. There are two summoners behind the hill to the left.”</p>
<p>Logan grunted his approval and took off.</p>
<p>He could not help glancing back though, and saw the beast charging Charles, who was waiting, calmly, with ropes of blue magic drawn into his raised hands.</p>
<p>Logan was glad he was not facing that way when the spell hit. The wave of heat warmed his back, and a flash brighter than the sun followed.</p>
<p>He found the mages in the middle of drawing a hasty seal. He took the man’s head off with a swift swipe. The woman threw some powder at him. It made Logan’s eyes sting and burn. He dropped the axe, dropped to the ground to avoid another attack and, twisting his right wrist, pulled out a knife. It hit the mage in the eye. She fell back, but not before grazing Logan with whip-like magic that burned the side of his neck.</p>
<p>Logan picked and quickly wiped his weapons. He hurried back despite knowing that the beast was dead. He found Charles with the horse. How in Hell’s name he recovered the horse Logan had no idea. A pile of the smoldering demon was within too close a distance, but to his surprise, the horse was behaving.</p>
<p>Charles turned as he approached.</p>
<p>His eyes and his presence were back to normal. Logan relaxed a fraction.</p>
<p>“You are hurt,” Charles mumbled.</p>
<p>Logan shrugged it off. The burn probably looked as red as it felt, but it will be gone come morning.</p>
<p>“How are your wounds?” he asked instead.</p>
<p>“I took care of the worst of it,” Charles said. “I have only one jump in me now. Tell me where you want me to take you.”</p>
<p>He did not look steady on his feet, now that Logan was watching him closely.</p>
<p>Where to go? Logan immediately thought of his primary destination. Far to the west, by the mountain range that stretched along the coast.</p>
<p>“Scatra,” he said, “by the Iron Mountains.”</p>
<p>“Let me think,” Charles appeared to be counting something in his head. “I can take you to the old tower on the way to Baloc. It is the closest I have visited.”</p>
<p>Logan knew nothing of the old towers, but Baloc was a few day’s journey away from where he was heading. It was better than crossing an entire kingdom on horseback anyway.</p>
<p>Charles nodded when he heard it and beckoned Logan closer.</p>
<p>“Do I need to hold on to you?” he asked just in case.</p>
<p>“You’d better,” chuckled Charles.</p>
<p>The seal grew blindingly bright. Logan put his hand on Charles’ shoulder, partly to make sure that he would not collapse again.</p>
<p>“I must sleep,” was all Charles said before nearly collapsing when they landed by the abandoned watchtower under the clear starry sky.</p>
<p>Logan rolled his eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> ***</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>They camped in a pine bluff hidden between the hills per Logan’s insistence. Charles was ready to stay by the watchtower, but Logan did not like setting the camp out in the open. Charles was fast asleep on Logan’s bedroll, burrowing under the blanket. The horse also nodded off when he relieved it of the saddlebags.</p>
<p>Logan sat by the small fire, stroking it and thinking until the pink of the dawn touched the edge of the sky. The mornings were colder here and the air more humid than in the Western Pass. He liked this country more though. The rising sun soon spilled over their camp, rays warming up Logan. He stood up to work out stiffness from his limbs.</p>
<p>A thin tickle of water was pumping out of the muddy cleavage between the ancient tree roots. He had heard the creek purring from his seat by the fire. When the sun rose properly, he snatched the bucket and, having filled it up, took off his dusty clothes for a quick wash up. Water was soft but scalding on his skin. He enjoyed it. He stayed by the creek to clean and sharpen his blades with a whetstone and then, caught by a sudden urge, scrubbed his beard off with one of the blades. It would grow back in no time but at least… Logan crushed the thought, suddenly aware. What was he doing?</p>
<p>After he took the horse to water and let it provide itself, he crouched by Charles’ side. It was noon. The mage was cold to touch. He did not stir when Logan brushed the hair away from his neck, checking the pulse. For a moment he felt nothing and something dark roared within him. Until he registered a beat under his fingers. It was far and between, but rather deep.</p>
<p>“What did you do to me?” he muttered grimly, his fingers rubbing the side of Charles’ long neck, stopping only when he reached the collar.</p>
<p>Charles continued to sleep, dead to the world.</p>
<p>Angry with himself, Logan left the camp, rationalizing that he needed to hunt. He caught a hare and skinned it in haste, regretting his decision. Charles was disturbingly helpless now. He should not have left him.</p>
<p>Charles woke up with the sunset to the hare cooking over the fire. He looked exhausted and wan and winced when he sat up, but Logan deemed him all right just in comparison.</p>
<p>He muttered a ‘good morning’, making Logan smirk into his cup.</p>
<p>Charles frowned then.</p>
<p>“You did not leave?” he asked him in a harsh, astonished voice.</p>
<p>Logan did not understand. Besides, who Charles thought the bedroll and blanket belonged to. He would not have parted with the essentials.</p>
<p>“Did you expect me to leave?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Charles tilted his head, puzzled. “I asked you where you wanted to go so that you could continue the journey that, if not for me, would not be interrupted.”</p>
<p>Logan remembered it now. The way the boy was quick with his tongue, but somewhat ridiculously dumb when it came to reading people.</p>
<p>“The fact that you woke up to find me watching over you, sleeping princess,” Logan smirked, “with dinner already delivered should give you a hint.”</p>
<p>Charles’ cheeks flushed, which pleased Logan immensely. The way his body responded to Charles’ flush not so much.</p>
<p>Charles must have interpreted Logan’s darkened expression in his way.</p>
<p>“I said that I would be in your debt, but you have not asked anything of me yet,” he said, unknowingly stirring up Logan more and more.</p>
<p>Logan groaned. It was better to spell it for him because hell knows where his wild assumptions might lead.</p>
<p>“Listen, Chuck,” he used the despised name on purpose to shift the mood. “I have a log cabin on a slope. It is a four-day ride from here. Not much by your standards, but it is well off the track. You can lay low there until you recover.”</p>
<p>Charles was looking at him as if he hung the moon.</p>
<p>Logan looked down into his cup, refusing to meet his eyes. The entirety of truth was quite different and might not sound as appealing for him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>As though sensing that Logan wanted to talk to him, Charles was almost constantly asleep now. He even managed to nod off on the horseback to Baloc. Logan was just asking him to share why so many people wanted him dead. When no answer came, he turned and found Charles asleep while almost plastered along the mare’s neck. It would not help him should the horse decide to throw him off. It seemed though that the mare tolerated him just enough to allow such incompetency.</p>
<p>Against his better judgment, Logan reluctantly bought a second horse to speed up their journey. The marketplace in Baloc was full of draft horses. So he took a large, heavy beast for himself after considering a few. He must sell one of the horses come autumn. They were a pain to feed in winter.</p>
<p>He also bought a new woolen cape for Charles, which he immediately put on, saying his thanks and how cold he had been. Logan went about filling his new saddlebags with necessities, with groggy Charles tagging along. Even without a traditional beard and staff, everything about him screamed ‘sorcerer’. Logan had to glare at the merchant, who bowed to oblivious Charles inquiring in a honeyed voice which of his fine vials a good sire wished to look at. Charles immediately paled and pulled his hood down. His identity became even more obvious after that.</p>
<p>“You ever thought of a better disguise?” Logan asked when they were leaving the market square.</p>
<p>“A disguise? You sound like my master,” Charles said, unimpressed.</p>
<p>“Yes, a disguise.”</p>
<p>At a street corner, Logan saw a lanky, golden-haired lad torturing a lute, wailing a ballad of a mighty victory over the Necromancer.</p>
<p>“Think of changing your wardrobe. Maybe, add some accessories. Do you play a lute?” Logan asked.</p>
<p>“A lute?” Charles sounded shocked. “I have no talent for that.”</p>
<p>“Neither does he,” pointed out Logan.</p>
<p>Charles only huffed in response. Logan saw him hiding a smile out of the corner of his eye.</p>
<p>They reached a wood that evening, but could not find a proper place for setting a camp for a while. After wandering through the dark with tired horses in tow, Logan finally discovered a small pond by the roadside, with cozy bushes around it. He did not recall any ponds being in the area, but everyone was exhausted, Logan had not slept in days and Charles was about to fall asleep on foot any moment now.</p>
<p>Charles was nestling down on the bedroll while Logan was still setting a fire.</p>
<p>“How did we meet?” he asked, covering up a yawn politely. “I mean, ten years ago.”</p>
<p>To give himself a moment to think, Logan dropped more firewood into the fire, causing the sparks to shoot up into the dark. Dry hawthorn he had picked up would burn slowly and hot.</p>
<p>He considered telling Charles the truth as it was. He could say that he offered himself to Logan, lost and pretending not to be scared. Could mention that Logan first thought he was about to kill himself, for depravity and desolation had been wrapped around him like a cloak. Could add that Logan was bored stiff and had known every garrison whore a little too well by that time. He thought back to that evening and could not tell what made him agree. Sure, the kid was pretty, he was a sorcerer and Logan loved knocking their kind off the high horse. He usually preferred women, though the ones strong enough to stand him tended to use him and the dainty ones tended to die. That aside, he certainly did not mind a good-looking fellow.</p>
<p>“I had been with the active garrison on the northern outpost then. Found you on the fortification wall one day,” he said, wisely keeping the rest unvoiced.</p>
<p>The tension in him eased a little.</p>
<p>“Interesting,” Charles drew the blanket tighter around himself. “What was I doing there?”</p>
<p>“You never told me,” Logan said. “I didn’t expect a mage to tell anyway.”</p>
<p>Charles fell silent.</p>
<p>“I am sorry,” he said quietly. “It must be difficult not to be entrusted with your friend’s secrets. And the way you have been helping me shows how close we had been.”</p>
<p>Right. He had no idea.</p>
<p>“It was fine,” Logan said after a long pause because it was true. “You said you did not own your secrets. I believe you.”</p>
<p>When Logan looked up, he found Charles already asleep.</p>
<p>Flames were flickering between them, casting harsh shadows on Charles’ exhausted features. The mage whose net Logan was trapped in was completely unaware.</p>
<p>Logan felt melancholy settle over him.</p>
<p>Charles would leave soon. He would disappear to fight his battles. This time most likely for good. The world needed the young and the brave to spill blood and either die trying or triumph despite the odds… Or whatever it meant. Why should it affect Logan? Having lived as long as Logan had, one got used to loss and death.</p>
<p>He added two more logs to the blazing fire, lost in thought.</p>
<p>      </p>
<p>                    </p>
<p> ***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>First, Logan felt an imprint of hot mouth on his neck and insistent hands sliding down and tugging his shirt from under the belt. The weight that settled on his lap belonged to someone lighter and leaner than he was. His head was hazy when he opened his eyes and found Charles’ face inches from his own. His cock immediately stirred, as if on command, and Logan stifled a growl full of frustration.</p>
<p>Charles stretched his lips in a wide, knowing grin. Both plump and pleasantly full, his mouth looked dark red in the light of the dwindling fire. His blue eyes were gleaming darkly, their depth enticing and familiar, like a night that stretched its wings behind him. Keeping his eyes trained on Logan’s, he arched his back, rubbing his pelvis all over Logan’s groin and making Logan hiss out a curse. Logan grabbed his hips to stop him, while his befuddled thoughts were slowly spinning in a circle, the shifting images of Charles, naked and spread for him, all that soft, unblemished skin his to mark, Charles’ magnificent mouth on his prick, Charles clever hands on him. His head was whirling. Did he fall asleep? How did he not hear Charles getting up? Maybe, here Logan gritted his teeth, could it be he wanted the man so badly that his mind was playing tricks on him. Was it real?</p>
<p>“Are you asking yourself if it is real?” Charles chuckled, reading his thoughts.</p>
<p>“What if I am?” Logan found it hard to concentrate. It often used to be like this with Charles, the way his vigor left him and his body grew weak. The passion that took control of him drained him like no one else ever did.</p>
<p>“Why shouldn’t this be real?” Charles said, leaning down to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, murmuring. “I am hardly blind. I see the way you look at me. I feel the way your eyes roam, so hungry. I feel how hard and stiff your shaft is now.”</p>
<p>He tried to wiggle a little to prove his point. Logan grasped him tighter, glaring. He wanted to say something, but the words were stuck, everything was spinning out of his grip.</p>
<p>“Come on,” Charles sighed, exasperated. “You want me, do you not? You would not deny me now.”</p>
<p>As Charles continued running his mouth, his hands were dangerously efficient too.</p>
<p>Logan would very much like to fuck that mouth now, then take a turn with that by no means delightful ass, yes, please.</p>
<p>However.</p>
<p>The smell of water was damp and cold and was everywhere. It was certainly tingling a nerve. He inhaled, deeply, and released the other.</p>
<p>Charles flashed him a victorious smile when Logan cupped his face in both hands. He did not have time to react though, as Logan abruptly shifted his hold and twisted his chin up and sideways. A loud crack followed and the fog in Logan’s head vanished at once.</p>
<p>The body he was touching rippled.</p>
<p>Logan swore and pushed back a convulsing creature, with only a stance of a human, entirely covered in warts and blemishes. He was on his feet in an instant, eyes taking in a barely flickering campfire and an empty bedroll on the opposite side. The night around him was dull, quiet. Darkness was leaning in to swallow what was left of the fire.</p>
<p>Fuck, Logan thought. He should have listened to his gut. There were no ponds in the area.</p>
<p>A sob pierced the dark, a sound so full of misery that Logan sensed it cutting right through. He quickly turned around, checking the darkening area. The hideous creature was gone from the sight; only a puddle remained on the spot where he left it.</p>
<p>“Charles!” Logan called out. “Where are you?”</p>
<p>Not an echo rippled in still, sordid night.</p>
<p>He did not really expect an answer, so he grabbed a dry stick from the pile he had collected and thrust it into the fire. With a make-shift torch he surveyed the empty bedroll, relieved to note that there were no signs of a struggle, no welts on the ground, no torn grass. It did not mean much though, seeing that the creature was obviously a shifter. Powerful enough to almost trick him, damn it.</p>
<p>A loud splash made him turn towards what he presumed was the pond.</p>
<p>He pulled out a short blade, heading in the direction of the sound, the flaming stick raised. As he stepped away from the fire, he was immediately immersed in unnaturally thick, clinging cold. He walked on and on, carefully counting his steps. The pond used to be but a dozen steps away, but the uncertain path stretched forward and on.</p>
<p>He heard another splash, then one more, but even with eyes trained and focused, he could not see a thing.</p>
<p>Until he heard it as if muttered from beneath the ground.</p>
<p>“Logan?”</p>
<p>“Charles?” he asked and suddenly the darkness drew back and he saw Charles kneeling by the water’s edge.</p>
<p>The mage was shivering, his wet hair dripping water and clothes clinging to him.</p>
<p>“It is fine, he is a friend,” Charles said, looking behind Logan’s shoulder.</p>
<p>Logan did not turn, though it cost him a lot. His senses were silent. If asked, he would tell that he could not feel any presence. Only damp, cold smell of water around.</p>
<p>He silently sheathed the blade and took a moment to spare a careful look at Charles, who appeared to be half in a trance, his eyes open, but unseeing. Whatever he was communicating to the creature, Logan had to wait it out.</p>
<p>Charles finally sighed and closed his eyes.</p>
<p>The spell broke and the night rushed back in, filled with trees rustling in the wind and little animals shuffling in the underbush. The sky that opened up was clear and full of bright, glinting stars.</p>
<p>Charles shuddered, looking very blue in the face. Logan offered him a hand without a word. When he pulled him up, Charles clung to him, teeth chattering from cold. Hell, he must be freezing.</p>
<p>Logan urged him back to the fire.</p>
<p>“You need to take your clothes off,” he said tightly and let go of Charles to add more firewood.</p>
<p>Thankfully, the flames surged up fast.</p>
<p>When he turned, he found Charles still struggling with his leggings. His discarded shirt laid in a wet pile by his feet. Logan quickly fetched a spare blanket. Charles did not protest when Logan threw the blanket over his head and started rubbing his back and shoulders dry with it.</p>
<p>“Logan, I apologize, I should have noticed the dimensional shift,” he stammered. “Was too tired…”</p>
<p>Logan only grunted.</p>
<p>The blanket helped a lot by covering his naked and shivering body from Logan’s eyes.</p>
<p>“Come, sit by the fire,” Logan nudged him. “Did you take a dive or what?”</p>
<p>Charles sat cross-legged on his bedroll, wrapping his discarded blanket around himself too. He looked ridiculous, but he slowly stopped shivering. He cleared his throat.</p>
<p>“I met only one of their kind a while ago, in the lower Tower. I thought fua were extinct.”</p>
<p>Logan never heard of fua.</p>
<p>“Fua are an old race, the late companions of the Ancients. They live and travel by water,” Charles went on, his skin finally turning normal pale, “and thus manipulate space and, I think, even time to the degree that our spell weaving cannot.”</p>
<p>“Were they hunting?” Logan was done with hanging out Charles’ clothes to dry and came back to sit opposite him. “Should we leave as soon as you turn less blue?”</p>
<p>“No, there is no need to leave,” Charles sighed, closing his eyes. “They were not hunting. Fua are not violent, you see. There were times when people were seeking them out, building the shrines around the wells, and welcoming their advice, for they are known to see into people’s hearts. But times have changed and no one seeks their council anymore.”</p>
<p>“Cannot imagine why,” grumbled Logan. “What is their endgame? Showing people what they want and then turning into a puddle? The one who jumped me looked like it was decomposing, by the way.”</p>
<p>Charles huffed and bit down on his lip. Logan was sure it was done to stifle a laugh. He quickly grew solemn though. </p>
<p>“It was us who hunted them down, my friend. Now those few that remain are weak and badly afflicted. And not just showing that what the person desires, no,” Charles shook his head sadly, “but making it come true.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The silence that fell over the camp was a touch too grim. Charles was rubbing sleep from his eyes because he felt he owed Logan a proper explanation.</p>
<p>His heart was pounding from the strain his body had been put through again. Though his skin was warming up, he was frighteningly cold inside, where the desolation of the dying and forsaken fua and their grim warning resonated through his connection to the essence of Chaos. His throat was parched despite nearly drowning in the infinite water void. He appreciated the irony.</p>
<p>“Do you have any water?” Charles asked.</p>
<p>Logan avoided meeting his eyes ever since helping him back to the fire. Charles was ashamed of clinging to him like that, but the man was running wonderfully hot.</p>
<p>“Catch,” Logan picked up his canteen and tossed it to him.</p>
<p>Not expecting that, Charles almost let it drop into the fire.</p>
<p>No, Logan could not be upset about that, decided Charles firmly.</p>
<p>However, how would he know? To be honest, his memory predicament and the duties of the Guardian prevented him from interacting with people as much as he would have liked. First, he studied under Erik and travelled with Erik, learning to use his magic on the move. Emma used to visit and he would come by her villa too. That is until Erik learned of the two of them by sheer accident. Charles used to think back to it with an inner cringe. It was quite a storm to weather.</p>
<p>“If you are not drinking, toss it back,” Logan spoke impatiently.</p>
<p>“I am drinking,” Charles tilted the canteen up. “Thank you, Logan.”</p>
<p>Instead of tossing it, he sighed and got up.</p>
<p>“Oh, I get a mage to service me,” Logan mocked when Charles offered him the canteen back.</p>
<p>“My aim would most likely be off,” Charles smiled sadly. He said before he could lose the courage. “May I sit next to you?”</p>
<p>Logan squinted at him with dark, serious eyes. His face was not impassive like his master’s; regardless, it was difficult to learn what he was thinking. Even his aura was beyond Charles’ comprehension, for it felt violent and steady at the same time.</p>
<p>“Go on,” he moved over to give Charles space.</p>
<p>Charles quickly sat. He could not explain himself properly at that moment, so he was glad the man did not ask. For a while, they sat in silence. Charles appreciated the quiet warmth of the fire and that of Logan.</p>
<p>“I suppose, a vision you saw could be disturbing you. If that so, you should remember that anything you saw may have many, many layers and may not be what it seemed to be,” Charles said, frowning. “Is it what troubles you?”</p>
<p>Logan leaned forward to stir the fire as Charles waited, patient.</p>
<p>“Ask me something else, mage,” Logan grumbled after a beat. “I can’t be bothered to conjure a lie right now.”</p>
<p>“I understand,” Charles nodded respectfully and went on. “Please, call me by my name though. I am not calling you a warrior.”</p>
<p>“Why would you?” Logan mocked back. “I am no warrior anymore.”</p>
<p>“Who are you?” Charles was actually very curious.</p>
<p>Logan shrugged.</p>
<p>“Just a man that picked you up, while trying to catch his dumb horse.”</p>
<p>“It is an odd choice of words,” Charles said carefully.</p>
<p>“It is true, Chuck,” Logan leaned back. “What happened to you? Why did you go swimming with your new friends?”</p>
<p>“I admit their skill in replicating the desires is rather ingenious,” Charles confessed. “I was trained to protect myself from such influences though.”</p>
<p>“Why did you jump into the water then?”</p>
<p>“They pulled me in by manipulating space,” Charles said, a touch sheepishly.</p>
<p>The pressure of mental intrusion had woken him up and as he got to his feet to investigate, his first step took him right to the center of the pond. Which was bottomless as he soon discovered.</p>
<p>“Why did they let us go?”</p>
<p>“I negotiated with them.”</p>
<p>“You are quite a peace-maker.”</p>
<p>“I wish,” Charles muttered with bitterness he could not keep out of his voice.</p>
<p>Logan turned to him, listening. He said nothing. To Charles’ surprise, the hard lines of his face and the permanent, grim twist to his mouth were in contrast to the understanding Charles thought he saw in his eyes.</p>
<p>“If what I remember is true, you are rather good at making people do what you wish,” Logan chose to look him in the eyes this time, smirking slightly.</p>
<p>Charles viewed the two of them as though from the distance, transfixed at the exchange. The exhaustion that did not let go of him completely came back encompassing him whole.</p>
<p>“Do you wish to get your memories back?” Logan suddenly asked.</p>
<p>Charles pushed his drying bangs back from his face, fighting the urge to nod off.</p>
<p>“I did before. Memories make emotional bonds within your soul. I had half of them severed completely. There is nothing to restore and it took me years to accept it.”</p>
<p>Charles’ mind wandered for a brief instant. A weird kaleidoscope of visions he experienced, fragmented and undefined, were weighing on him. He saw himself bleeding and in chains, saw the burning city illuminate the night sky, the dark horde marching through the sand, saw the sorcerers falling dead, saw blue hands tearing the skies apart.</p>
<p>“Hey,” he found Logan’s hand on his shoulder. “You are about to fall asleep. I will keep watch, as I usually do. You can go.”</p>
<p>“I need to tell you,” his thoughts were quite a mess. “They warned me of the terror coming. I saw the mages dying, the troops in the desert, Chester, I think, was under attack.”</p>
<p>He left the part concerning himself untold, but spoke of the rest in detail. Logan was listening. Charles realized in the moment that in telling the other he compromised himself. He wanted someone to share his burden; he was unwittingly willing to sway the man who rescued him to commit to the cause that was going to put him in danger. He stopped talking, a lump stuck in his throat.</p>
<p>The pause stretched until Logan spoke.</p>
<p>“So the Chaos can send you visions,” Logan, unperturbed, stirred the fire. “I will tell you what I already told you. Go to sleep, have some decent rest. We may talk later if you want.”</p>
<p>Charles did as he was told.</p>
<p>He dreamt of reading to children on his favorite spot in the library, the Tower’s magic lines humming around them gently. He was not aware of smiling in his sleep.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p><br/>In the wake of the encounter, Logan was angry, which did not surprise him. He did hate anyone messing with his head like that. He was also somewhat resentful towards Charles and that surprised him, for Charles was nothing but a gentle companion. The man was unaware when he sat next to him and leaned closer, instinctively seeking out warmth.</p>
<p>Logan let the fantasy of taking him here and now play out in the silence of his mind for the sake of letting go.</p>
<p>In his fantasy, Charles was confused at first, he resisted when Logan got him naked and kissed him hard. He had to fix Charles’ hands behind his back with his belt to stop the useless struggle and pressed him face down into the ground. He fantasized of fingering him with two, then three fingers, making his hole give in and stretch under persistence. He imagined Charles writhing and panting from discomfort and unwelcome lust as his body was being opened up to be penetrated. Logan recalled how hot and narrow he had been, how silky smooth his insides had felt. He would like to take him on his back, throwing his legs over his shoulders and watching his pretty face twist as his ass is spread and speared.</p>
<p>Logan exhaled. Heavens, grant him calm.</p>
<p>Charles was asleep a few steps away now, his back to the pond. Despite the grim tale he shared, a small hint of a smile was now on his lips, betraying the lighter emotion of his dream.</p>
<p>Throughout his life, Logan had killed plenty. He used to have a reputation of a death bringer once. A well-deserved one. Yet unlike the mercenaries roaming the lands of the continent, he never raped and plundered the innocent. He was no knight, but he never sullied himself with such deeds. He made peace with his urges and with his cursed heritage, for he was a rough and dangerous man. As years flew by, he learned the merit of patience and discovered a longing for serenity within himself. That is why it was so hard to understand why not even battlefield made his blood boil as much as this soft-faced, blue-eyed mage could. Charles brought out the demonic part of him, as though the man brought forth the lantern to illuminate the dark corners of his soul and in doing so invited the darkness to reveal itself.</p>
<p>When the night retreated, so did his dark musings.</p>
<p>Charles woke up with the sun, stretched and informed him that fua visited him in a dream to offer them both a favor. Logan stared gloomily, but proceeded to kill the fire and gather the saddlebags, while Charles was pulling on his still damp clothes to the side. Logan glimpsed a flash of skin and from what he could see red and dark bruises still littered Charles’ back.</p>
<p>Logan realized what the favor meant only when Charles and he collected the horses and Charles explained that the tiny creek flowing into the pond should be crossed by stepping over it simultaneously. Which they did. The woods around them shifted and blurred. And then Logan was looking at an old cabin tucked between tall, majestic maple trees. The mountains, old and low, were slowly losing the snowcaps in the background, the trees on the slopes gradually turning green.</p>
<p>He knew that he would not see the pond when he looked back. He still did, wary of the oddity. That was certainly not the magic he would warm up to.</p>
<p>Charles also looked back, but for him, Logan thought, it was a different kind of a farewell.</p>
<p>“It is very nice,” Charles said, looking at the cabin.</p>
<p>“You might change your mind,” Logan pulled the horse forward. “Let’s go.”</p>
<p>He surveyed the surroundings attentively. The grass was untouched, an old path spinning among moss-covered boulders seemed untrodden. It looked like no one had been here in years. Logan had last stayed here for a few years after he left the garrison. However, he could not remember how many years ago that was.</p>
<p>Charles was relieving the horses of the saddles and bags, as Logan was airing the small house by opening all windows and checking the door and the roof. He directed Charles to the stream nearby, asking him to bring some water. Only after Charles left he realized why he did that and marveled at the deep impression those creatures left on him, so that he would avoid their domain without thinking.</p>
<p>Logan spent an entire day cleaning the house and making necessary repairs. He soon discovered that Charles, though trying to help and surprisingly good at scrubbing the floors, was tiring too quickly. He straightened with a wince when Logan called him and agreed to go tend to the horses with visible relief.<br/><br/>He was lucky and managed to kill a small deer when the sun was setting, and the air grew thinner and colder.</p>
<p>Back in the house, the stove was burning steadily and Charles stirred the logs with an iron rod. Above his shoulder, a light sphere was hanging in the air, lightening up the room. It dissolved at once when Logan walked in with the meat.</p>
<p>The stove dominated the house and separated it into a kitchen and a sleeping area. Logan saw Charles’ bedroll already on the floor by the stove. He might bother making a bed tomorrow, he thought.</p>
<p>“I need to lie down,” Charles said, weary and wan.</p>
<p>“Feel free,” Logan put the meat on the table to get it cut. “You should save your strength while you are still on the mend. If you are tired, do not do anything. I will not think any less of you if you sleep through the week.”</p>
<p>“You keep helping me,” Charles noted quietly. “I do not want to be in debt more than I am.”</p>
<p>Logan hummed.</p>
<p>He started cutting thin slices from the bone, thinking about what Charles was saying.</p>
<p>“Is it so terrible for you?”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“To be indebted to me?”</p>
<p>“No,” Charles sounded shocked. “No, not at all. It is the opposite. But I have been a burden for you. I realize that I,” he sighed. “I must stop talking now. I will not burden you with my self-pity, at least.”</p>
<p>“My thanks to you,” Logan huffed a dry laugh.</p>
<p>Charles grinned suddenly.</p>
<p>“You are a strange man, Logan.”</p>
<p>“And you are just a man, even if you are a mage. So go to sleep.”</p>
<p>Logan finished preparing the meat, quickly washed up outside and also laid down to sleep. His first decent sleep in days and the first under the roof in weeks came nice and quick.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charles was kneeling and watching him, eyes devilishly bright and hands grabbing Logan’s thighs. His mouth willingly fell open and he moaned, eager and excited, as Logan guided his cock inside. He slid neatly past soft, glistening lips and into Charles’ throat. His cockhead met some resistance when the man servicing his cock gagged a little. Logan groaned at the sharp, pleasurable sensation of the throat closing in around his shaft. He put his hand that was not guiding his cock in Charles’ mouth on the back of the man’s head to keep him in place. He felt a moan of his own build up in his throat as he very slowly withdrew. Charles let out a low groan, he gasped in air when the cock slipped from his mouth. Logan tugged his head back and up by the grip on his hair to see the tears filling his unreal eyes, to note how good the flush looked on his upturned face.</p>
<p>He placed just his tip, which was leaking steadily, against Charles’ sinfully swollen lips and Charles immediately leaned forward to take it within and started sucking, his clever tongue teasing the slit. Logan set a slower, gentler rhythm then, rocking into his mouth unhurriedly, leaving Charles ample time to suckle on the cockhead as it was pushing in and sliding out.</p>
<p>He finished in his ass what he started in his mouth, bending Charles over and not wasting any more time. He quickly and roughly palmed the man’s throbbing cock, making him shudder and discharge, which, in turn, prompted Logan to shoot his spunk into the eye-watering tightness that was Charles’ hole.</p>
<p>Logan came in his hand with a stifled groan. The tension retreated a little, leaving his head clearer than it had been. Unsurprisingly, he thought dryly, on the first morning under one roof he had to wake up fantasizing of molesting the mage sleeping a few feet away. The said mage was out, Logan could not hear him anywhere near the house, so he jerked off to the images generously provided by his mind and memories.</p>
<p>He swore under his breath. He was acting like a man possessed. Trapped in the vicious circle of want and denial.</p>
<p>When he was done washing up, he looked at the reflection of his face in the water, as though seeing it for the first time in years. He tried to look at himself through the other’s eyes, to see what he might be seeing. The eyes that were glaring at him were dark, set deeply under large eyebrows, nose big and the wide line of his mouth got downturned with age. The stubble always grew back almost as fast as he could scrub it off, so he mostly never bothered. The white hairs started showing on his temples. He kept his hair rather short for convenience’s sake. He dimly remembered it reaching his shoulders when he was growing up, but that was so long ago it might be his imagination.</p>
<p>He realized that Charles had first approached him because he had been desperate. Logan spent some time mulling over his odd phrasings after his disappearance. Magic craft was an alien art for him, but he did have some rough knowledge after fighting alongside and against mages of different kinds. The kid had been bound by some spell or something.</p>
<p>Logan splashed water on his face, reaching for his shirt.</p>
<p>Would Charles come to him, with that coy smile and a spark in his eyes, offering to share his bed if no spell bound him?  </p>
<p>At this moment, one thing was certain: Logan desired him, wanted him with the passion that drove him out of his mind and made him ask himself questions he would normally avoid.</p>
<p>How could he continue living side by side with the man that occupied his mind and heart day and night and not snap?</p>
<p>Damn it. He cursed. Damned be the Chaos for forcing their paths to cross again.</p>
<p>Since Charles did not come back, Logan gritted his teeth and stormed off to the stream. The events of the last days made him wary of letting the sorcerer out of his sight. He was very powerful, Logan could admit it with grudging respect, but so far they kept running into trouble again and again, and vigilance was not Charles’ strong suit as far as he could judge.</p>
<p>He found Charles about twenty paces away from the stream, in a meadow with green grass and yellow flowers. He was kneeling by the small stone pyramid he seemed to have built from the stones found on the riverbed. No bird was singing, no wind was rustling the trees as Charles knelt there, hands clasped together in a prayer, his eyes closed and head hung low.</p>
<p>Logan stood still until Charles finished.</p>
<p>He got up with a pained grimace and turned to look at Logan. As he came closer, Logan saw him blinking tears from his eyes. Charles smiled at him sadly, brushing the dirt off his hands.</p>
<p>“You were looking for me?”</p>
<p>“Not so much looking as checking whether you are in one piece,” Logan frowned. “Damn monsters keep popping up whenever we go.”</p>
<p>“I was thinking about it too,” Charles paused. “The creatures like fua are probably drawn to me because of who I am.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“I will explain,” he said firmly. “I will also answer all your questions, my friend.”</p>
<p>Logan nodded.</p>
<p>“Who was it?” he pointedly looked at the stones, for the grief so strong was impossible to ignore.</p>
<p>“My children,” Charles’ mouth twisted on the words. “Not mine by blood, because my nature does not allow me to produce an offspring. The orphans I found during my travels and offered a home, all with excellent magic potential. All dead now.”</p>
<p>“The same people that came after you?”</p>
<p>“Yes, the Brotherhood,” Charles confirmed. “As you told me yesterday, I am just a man, even if I am a mage. That was a proper thing to say at the time to remind me of my limitations. But I am not just a man anymore. About ten years ago my Master did something that was considered impossible. By twisting the principles of the world he made me his successor ahead of time thus saving the continent from the Great Breach.”</p>
<p>Logan recalled the Breach vividly. The seven days of eternal night when the gates of Hell opened. The garrison burned and people died horrible deaths as demons swamped the skies and crawled out of the ground itself, hungry for human flesh and blood. On the seventh day, the ground shook as the wave of magic rolled over the continent. It was the Guardian closing the Breach and sending the Prime Demon back where it came from.</p>
<p>“You are the Guardian,” Logan said, part of him that already realized the truth was calm, the part that was surprised was another story.</p>
<p>“I am,” Charles nodded seriously. “Let’s talk inside, though. Everything has ears — I have learned it the hard way.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><br/>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Charles clasped his hands around the rough wooden cup filled with water. He was thinking of the essence of magic teachings: mana and control. Raw power was good but unfocused it could disobey the sorcerer and in some cases endanger those around. His control was his main point of focus and daily training, for he had now much more mana than a regular mortal could contain. Therefore, the damage he could cause by slipping would be catastrophic. He felt exposed talking about things that hurt him so much, but he had to do that and maintain his focus throughout. For Logan’s sake too.</p>
<p>“You have shown a great trust in me,” Charles said, looking up.</p>
<p>It was a bit strange to sit in the half-darkness inside the cabin when the day was so warm and bright outside, he thought.</p>
<p>Logan’s eyes regarded him in a new way that made Charles’ skin prickle all over.</p>
<p>“I saw you during the battle with the Nomads. Not up close. My squad was up the hill leading to the fortress when you arrived with the Queen’s platoon. I saw you teleport them all in the valley at once and shield them from the enemies’ arrows. The gossip said that you never showed your face. No one knew what you looked like.”</p>
<p>“I believed then that I should remain unrecognized. I did not understand who I really was, and my Master nourished a fear of betrayal in me. Later I forgot his teachings, which I will be regretting till the end of my days.”</p>
<p>“The Guardian is always someone’s target,” Logan nodded.</p>
<p>“Oh, well, a truth universally acknowledged,” Charles huffed and then sighed. “That battle demanded my presence. Nomad sorcerers were using dark magic to aid their tribesmen. I should watch over the balance. Magic like that and the summon that you saw a few days ago leave ripples of cursed energy in the world. Like rings on the water.”</p>
<p>Charles looked into his cup.</p>
<p>“One ripple too many may weaken the seal protecting our realm.”</p>
<p>“Is your magic any different?”</p>
<p>“A good question,” Charles paused thoughtfully. “I was born with mana, all potential sorcerers are. We can call upon the Chaos we all came from, for we were born with the seed of Chaos within. As I see it, our magic is a natural gift. However one might use it — it depends. The power of Nether I can draw upon is a different tale. It is a primordial eldritch dimension known to the few, the paths to which are lost forever. I have the part in me that can draw upon it,” Charles put a hand on his chest. “The shard. By all means, this power is dangerous unleashed, but preserved within a vessel it is as safe as it can possibly be. Dark arts are different. Their practitioners draw power from blood, consumption, and forces that should not be woken.”</p>
<p>“Why does the Brotherhood want you dead? Who are they?”</p>
<p>“I am not sure, truly. I only know what they call themselves because a friend warned me about them a while ago.” Charles forced himself to go on. “They killed the children, slaughtered right in front of me so fast. I could not act on time. I was thinking it was done merely out of cruelty, but now I am not so sure,” Charles covered his eyes with his hand, thankful for the dim light.</p>
<p>He needed all his reason to help him process what happened.</p>
<p>“How did you come to be on the Western Pass? Your Tower must be half a kingdom away from there.”</p>
<p>Unknowingly, Logan helped him a lot by asking direct questions, keeping him on track.</p>
<p>“They used a series of seals. There was someone there who could overwrite my magic constructs,” Charles realized that such details were unnecessary, so he simplified it to the best of his ability. “They succeeded in dragging me into the traps, knowing that I can escape and interfering with it every time. In the citadel, my shields gave in. You have seen the rest, I assume.”</p>
<p>“What will you do now?”</p>
<p>What to do?</p>
<p>Charles spoke slowly.</p>
<p>“I shall heed your words. Recover and then decide what to do next.”</p>
<p>Logan stood up, rolling back his shoulders.</p>
<p>“See, it’s not so difficult. You came out alive when so many fell dead, you should focus on keeping yourself alive now. Are you hungry?”</p>
<p>Charles tried listening to his body. He was sore all over, his ribs and back especially so. The pulling sensation in his belly was easy to ignore.</p>
<p>“Yes,” he said with surprise. “How can you tell?”</p>
<p>“You look it,” Logan clapped him on the shoulder passing by and Charles found himself longing for his touch to linger.</p>
<p>He knew himself well enough to understand what it might mean. It was unwelcome now, of all the times.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A bird screeched in the woods and Charles froze, listening to the wind. To think that about ten days ago he would not have even paid attention to the sounds around him. He glanced up at the darkening sky. The setting sun was barely visible through the gathering clouds.</p><p>“It will rain,” Logan said beside him. “The clouds are from the north.”</p><p>Charles checked the sky again. Just like he thought, he could not tell the north from the south in the falling darkness.</p><p>“This is a good one,” Logan pointed to the mushrooms surrounding the decomposing trunk.</p><p>Charles, already feeling experienced after an earlier scare, poked the edges of the trunk with a long stick. A black, slick viper instantly slipped out, quickly disappearing into the grass. Charles collected the mushrooms, carefully cutting off the stems.</p><p>“Shall we go back before the rain starts?” he pushed himself to his feet and picked up the bag.</p><p>“Sure,” Logan said, obviously testing him. “Can you remember the way back on your own?”</p><p>Charles gave him a dry look.</p><p>“I can teleport back on my own and let it rain all over you.”</p><p>His words were nicely punctuated by the lightning flashing behind his back. In a beat, a thunder rumbled, rolling down the mountain slope.</p><p>Logan started laughing.</p><p>Charles was out of the loop for a moment. He expected a sardonic remark he has become quite accustomed to.</p><p>“It is nice to see you back,” Logan said instead. His voice turned sorter and Charles, Charles was simply shaken.</p><p>He was fighting with himself to keep a straight face, to keep from flushing and was not sure whether he succeeded. It was getting stranger and stranger to be around the other man. Charles was not over the biggest tragedy of his life, the powerful order was hunting him down and he has recently realized, during a brush with death, that due to Erik’s and his actions the line of the Guardians was now doomed to end with him.</p><p>What was wrong with him?</p><p>During one of the last heated arguments with Erik, Charles caught it. The accusation almost tripping off his Master’s tongue, not fully voiced, but there.</p><p>Was he really that kind of person? Set on what the flesh desires over his calling?</p><p>“Hey, Charles?” Logan stepped up to him, his expression unreadable, but for the scowl and silent, subdued anger the man was always shrouded in, which forced Charles’ throat to squeeze.</p><p>In scant seconds, Charles knew that he was going to say it, right now in this clearing and would apologize profusely and leave; he did recover enough strength to teleport. He knew with certainty that Logan was not the person to withdraw his offer of sanctuary under the circumstances. It was Charles who was fallible and driven by impulses.</p><p>“Logan,” he began, his mouth dry and voice harsh to his ears. “I apologize for what I need to say. Rest assured, that I will leave now and I promise not to trouble you again. It is not fair of me to dismiss my debt to you in such a manner, but considering my circumstances,” Charles let out a shaky breath, “I think it will be best if I refer you to my friend—“</p><p>“What has got into you?” Logan growled, grabbing him by the arms hard enough to make Charles wince. “I swear if you—“</p><p>“I can’t stay with you anymore!” Charles said to his face, hopelessly flustered.</p><p>“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Logan shook him, so strong that Charles felt his bones rattle, abruptly realizing what it meant to be on the receiving end of such unyielding, purely physical strength.</p><p>The low growl of thunder drowned out Logan’s curses.</p><p>For Charles, the ground under his feet disappeared. It was good that Logan was holding him captive in a way. Otherwise, his legs would not have held him upright.</p><p>Logan seemed to be getting angrier at his lack of reply.</p><p>“What did I do?” he gritted out. “I did not lay a single finger on you. I did not even look at you. I did not, damn it!” he paused, visibly collecting himself. “I care for you, you dumb mage. I do not care what you think of me, you have every right to despise me, but I do not want you to go to your death. You are just a kid. You have not even lived. Do you understand?”</p><p>Charles somehow found the presence of mind to shake his head. He was not dumb.</p><p>“I’m not a kid,” he denied intelligently, making himself meet Logan’s eyes.</p><p>“You are not, but to me you are,” Logan lowered his eyes. “Wait, am I hurting you?”</p><p>Charles could not tell, he was confused and overwhelmed, but he never stopped thinking and listening.</p><p>“Sorry. I did not mean to, Charles. I did not.”</p><p>Logan released his hold on him and Charles stumbled. There was unexpected, genuine fear in his voice, and that gave Charles a push he desperately needed to come back to his senses, urged by the desire to comfort the other.</p><p>He clutched Logan by the shoulders when he attempted to step away.</p><p>“It is fine. You should not worry,” Charles whispered. He begged. “Please, don’t move. I’m not sure I can stand without an aid at the moment.”</p><p>Charles had to lean on him, chest to chest, holding the man by his shoulders. Logan was truly a creature made of solid muscle. So close Charles could feel it even through clothes, he could bask in the man’s heat and smell: old moss, smoke, sweat and musk.</p><p>Meanwhile, a strong wind picked up, old trees were creaking under the onslaught, as Charles attempted to process everything.</p><p>“I had no idea,” he looked up, found Logan’s face inches from his own, mouth pressed into a grim line, eyes dark and hot.</p><p>Charles pressed his lips to the corner of that grim mouth, murmuring.</p><p>“I really had no idea,” and, when Logan did not react because stiffening did not count, Charles prompted him verbally. “Will you kiss me back? Please?”</p><p>And Logan did kiss him, grabbing him in his arms properly this time and pressing him close. Charles’ head was empty, while his blood was boiling. His mouth was claimed forcefully, but he would not have it any other way. It returned him to here and now. And in the moment he felt the ground under his feet again, he reached with his hands to finally fist them in Logan’s hair, pulling him in and groaning into the kiss.</p><p>Logan pulled back first, holding Charles within the circle of his arms. He was smiling. Not smirking, but smiling for real.</p><p>“Now you owe me more than you do for saving your life,” he declared.</p><p>“I shall repay my debts as I promised,” Charles grinned, dazed, then scrunched his nose when he felt a cold drop of water hit his forehead.</p><p>It was time to get under the roof in any case, he thought as he began conjuring up a seal.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>Logan kept holding him in his arms while Charles was telling him about his doubts and the decision to leave. It was pouring outside: the world consisted of grey darkness and torrents of water. They were sitting on one of the bedrolls on the floor; Charles had his legs stretched in front of him and his back pressed to Logan’s chest. His curling hair was slightly wet from when they had been hit by the starting rain.</p><p>“I was scared of offending you. You have been afraid too, right?” Charles turned and tilted his chin up to look at his face, searching.</p><p>His eyes were so deep and lucid, so enticing, that Logan could not dismiss him and pretend that he never heard the question.</p><p>“I thought you’d leave if I approached you. And by that would put yourself in danger. We are worlds apart. I can say that you are used to the finest stuff just by looking at you. To make it worse, you are not just any mage — you are the Guardian.”</p><p>“I wasn’t always used to the finest stuff. The very half of my life I can recall I spent in the orphanage. I never owned a pair of boots before, not to mention the rest,” Charles echoed quietly. “Isn’t it a good thing to be worlds apart?”</p><p>“Who knows,” Logan shrugged philosophically.</p><p>This was not how he would have imagined the evening to proceed, there were certainly less clothes and conversation when he envisioned the future, but he felt exhausted deep inside and he knew the same was true about Charles. The lust retreated, for now. Logan did not know what it meant. Charles settled with his head on Logan’s shoulder with a sigh.</p><p>“Are you mad with me now?”</p><p>“No. But I have been.”</p><p>Charles signed again. The silence that stretched between them was comfortable, soothing.</p><p>“You have been,” Charles’ breath hitched, “so kind to me.”</p><p>Heavens, this kid.</p><p>Charles quickly wiped his eyes. Logan pressed him in tighter, without a word.</p><p>“You have been kind to me too, and you did not even notice it,” he decided to say.</p><p>It was true.</p><p>“Did you and I —,” Charles paused, swallowing hard. “You know, in the past?”</p><p>“We were fucking,” Logan told him, unapologetically straightforward. He felt Charles stiffen then relax in his arms at the news.</p><p>“Oh,” Charles chuckled softly. His voice seemed raw. “I see.”</p><p>“We had an agreement, a deal, you might say. You had initiated everything,” Logan was mulling over what to say next. He chose to stay silent letting Charles decide whether he wanted to go there or not.</p><p>It grew darker outside. The thunderstorm with the heavy rain was drumming down the roof steadily. Charles was breathing deeply, his body relaxing more and more.</p><p>“Do you want to sleep?” Logan asked.</p><p>“Oh, yes,” Charles muttered. “But I’d like to wake up to the warm house, so let’s do something about that.”</p><p>They fired up the stove together. Charles helped with his magic after complaining that it took Logan too long to do it the traditional way. The kindling wood was casting nice orange glow on the house, bathing it in warmth and soft light. Charles pulled both bedrolls closer to the stove, undressed, leaving only a shirt on and looked at Logan expectedly.</p><p>“Come,” he said, “I am claiming the stove side. You can have the other one. You are warm enough on your own.”</p><p>Logan narrowed his eyes. His Worship did not know what he was getting into. There were quite a few ways Logan could make him eat his dismissal: like stuffing his mouth or his ass full of cock all night long, making him keep Logan’s prick nice and warm. The idea stirred a spark deep in his lower belly, forcing Logan to groan. He was going to try it. Definitely would.</p><p>Charles immediately snuggled closer when he joined him.</p><p>“Good night,” he muttered, pecking Logan on the lips lightly and was asleep that instant.</p><p>Logan woke up in the middle of the night, well-rested. The stove was barely glowing, but the house was warm now, just like Charles wanted.</p><p>“You’re awake too,” Charles whispered and Logan glanced at him.</p><p>His eyes were huge, gleaming like jewels on his pale face. His lips curled up in a half-smile. Those lips.</p><p>Logan kissed him, twisting his hand in Charles’ locks to draw him closer. Charles clutched his wrist, gasping into the kiss until Logan pulled back.</p><p>His cock was quickly filling, blood rushing in his ears.</p><p>“Suck me off, will you?” Logan said, not missing a beat.</p><p>Charles huffed a laugh.</p><p>“So this is how it is going to be?”</p><p>“What did you expect?” Logan grumbled. “I can fuck your mouth instead, if you’re too lazy for that.”</p><p>Charles laughed again.</p><p>“You can fuck my mouth then. Make me enjoy it, though,” he said primly.</p><p>Logan did not waste any time. He rolled Charles on his back, caught his hands and pressed them over his head.</p><p>“You are not allowed to touch or move on your own,” he said firmly, leaning above him.</p><p>He sat back then, enjoying the view. Charles’ shirt was barely covering his groin now. Logan hummed, pushing the linen up by sliding his palms up Charles hips, uncovering his rising cock, the soft skin of his belly, his chest with the nipples perking up under attention when Logan gave both buds a dry rub. He had both palms rubbing along Charles’ bared flanks now, listening to the way his heartbeat sped up, his breathing got shallow and fast. The shirt was stuck under his armpits, as intended. Logan smirked, noticing that Charles was already desperate to grab something, his hands, obediently raised, clenched into fists.</p><p>Logan sat back, pushed Charles’ legs apart and settled between them.</p><p>Charles gasped when Logan reached down to roll his balls in his hand, familiarizing himself with the way his lover’s manhood felt in his hand, recalling very well the smooth length of his cock in Logan’s grip, the way Charles would respond to the tugging motion, yes, exactly like that — by biting back a moan and by arching up.</p><p>Logan gently brushed the spot hiding behind the balls, circled the pucker of that hole he would come back to screw properly later. Charles buckled up and Logan had to hush him, by pressing his hips in place while his free hand was teasing the sensitive ring of his anal opening.</p><p>Until Charles gave up.</p><p>“Please,” he was gasping.</p><p>“Please, fuck my mouth?” Logan asked with a smirk. “You should be more straightforward, Chuck. Otherwise, I can misunderstand you.”</p><p>“Fine. Please, fuck my mouth,” Charles groaned, closing his eyes.</p><p>“You should have said so from the start.”</p><p>The begging was half-hearted at best, but Logan did not want to drag the deal. He straddled Charles, with a knee on either side of his chest, his leaking cock right in front of Charles’ mouth. Charles, holding his gaze, leaned up to kiss the cockhead. Logan nearly came all over his face then. He forced himself back from the edge by sheer will. Finally, Charles opened his mouth wide and he slid inside, helping Charles move his head gently up and down his length, setting a slow space for the first time. He came soon, pulling his cock out and discharging on Charles’ upturned face.</p><p>They fell asleep together, huddled close after Charles came in Logan’s hand with a cry and proceeded hiding his face, panting into Logan’s ear, his whooshing breaths gradually getting slower.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The moon was bright over the road leading to the great Iron Mountains. The two men were riding down the road, their horses and cloaks strangely dry despite recent rainfall. They did not appear very alarmed when five men moved out of the trees. Each man was bearded, their faces grim and intentions clear. The younger of the two noticed that each was wearing a longsword and three of them were carrying bows.</p><p>The men spread out on the road and the riders stopped.</p><p>“Nice horses,” said the heavily built man in the center of the group.</p><p>He seemed strong and Mortimer felt the tension rising.</p><p>“Do you want to die?” asked his companion.</p><p>“Where are your manners?” the man said. “You do not know much about greeting people.”</p><p>“Manners will not matter if you are dead,” the man said in the same dry voice.</p><p>“Your words are too big for a man with no weapon.”</p><p>“Were you smarter, it would have told you something.”</p><p>He dismounted swiftly then, not a bit of tension in his stance or manner. As he stood in front of the bandits, tall and lean, with no sword unsheathed, Mortimer saw the bandits hesitate. Until the leader raised his hand.</p><p>Three more men moved out of the trees from the left side of the road, their bows trained on the travelers.</p><p>“You, I forgot your name,” the tall man half-turned to the younger as he spoke. “Watch the horses.”</p><p>“It is Mortimer,” the young man hurried to say ingratiatingly.</p><p>His words were lost when the leader dropped his hand. Arrows hissed in the air. The man moved faster. With his left hand, he activated a shield, in his right hand, a seal flashed, taking the leader down.</p><p>“Mage!” someone screamed.</p><p>The next spell hit two of the bandits already running away. The rest of them disappeared behind the trees, screaming in terror.</p><p>Mortimer let out a chuckle. It got stuck in his throat when the taller man turned to look at him. The icy disdain in his eyes was so strong that Mortimer was worried whether he was going to be slain next.</p><p>A cloud drifted over the moon and plunged the tract into the darkness.</p><p>“Go get them,” the man snarled. “You a mage too after all.”</p><p>Mortimer broke into a cold sweat. Like most mages of the Brotherhood, he wasn’t a true sorcerer relying on the Chaos. His magic was a talent granted by God and in his case was weaker than most.</p><p>“I don’t think we have time for this,” he gulped. “You said yourself that the Guardian should be somewhere here.”</p><p>Mortimer was fooling no one and he knew it. But he was chosen to accompany this man on the most important quest for a reason. He did not know this reason; it did not matter.</p><p>However.</p><p>He stole a cautious look at the man, who was currently relieving the bandit leader of his longsword to refasten it around his waist. Though it should be impossible, his dark aura seemed even denser than before.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p><br/>
<br/>
On the verge of waking up, Charles already felt the beginning of that tight heat stirring in him, coiled and insistent, deep in his lower belly. He discovered that Logan’s body, so wonderfully warm, was still pressed to his. Charles’ back was pressed to the man’s hard, muscular chest, his ass — here he flushed and his cock jumped up that instant — Logan’s length was pressing just there he wanted it the most. It was such an exciting novelty to wake up next to the other person, to bask in the other’s warmth. He closed his eyes, savoring the tactile sensations. It seemed as though his body was finally his and he felt alive from within — every bit of flesh, every inch of his skin was touched by this realization.</p><p>Logan’s arm that was draped around Charles stirred. The man grumbled, pushing his knee between Charles’ legs. Charles did not contain a moan at that. He grew frustrated when he understood that the other was just moving in his sleep. What a disappointment! Here Charles stopped himself. Was it fair of him to demand Logan’s attention whenever he needed it? The answer was obvious to him. He reached for his cock, making sure not to move too much in order not to disturb the other man. He tried stroking the underside of his shaft with long up-and-down tugs. It did not feel as good as what Logan did to him last night, the way he had been fondling him while gently exploring his hole, rubbing and stroking the outside, gradually warming up Charles for more.</p><p>“What are you doing?”</p><p>Logan groaned, his words slurred from sleep, as he grabbed Charles’ busy hand tight.</p><p>“Sorry,” Charles missed him waking up completely, lost in a moment. “I did not want to wake you.”</p><p>“You are ridiculous,” Logan batted Charles’ hand away and grabbed his cock in his rough large palm. “Ridiculous and horny.”</p><p>Charles’ cock quickly grew hot and heavy, pulled and palmed roughly. Not trying to be still anymore, he registered his hips moving, gyrating and rubbing his ass on Logan’s hardness. It was so good, Charles’ breath hitched, so good but…</p><p>“Stop,” he groaned, putting his hand around Logan’s to stall the man. “Stop, please. I want you inside me.”</p><p>Logan hummed.</p><p>“I need some slick for this,” he withdrew, immediately making Charles colder.</p><p>Charles heard him shuffling through the bag. He decided not to look. The anticipation made it ten times more exciting. When Logan came back, he turned on his front unprompted, kneeling with his ass in the air, presenting himself to the other utterly and completely.</p><p>From that point on he forgot human language as he was breached and stretched and his insides coated with slick, his anus slowly giving in to the stretch, taking two, then three fingers. He was nearly sobbing from the sensation when Logan pushed in. His prick felt even bigger now that Charles could feel it forcing its way inside him. The pain coming from his anus was intense, he gasped from the shock of it, struggling to breathe. Logan might be saying something to him, was touching him, but Charles could spare none of his focus. He felt split in half, but somehow whole. His ears were ringing, mouth dry and his skin tight and unbearably hot. It helped that he knew, trusted Logan to be slow and gentle with him. The origin of such trust was both familiar and alien to him. When the man moved, Charles pushed back reflexively. Once, twice, again and again, until he started getting into it.</p><p>Once he could comprehend it, the oddity of it, of having the other man in him, so obviously enjoying what Charles’ body had to offer, it was unbelievable. He whined as sharp pleasure of being filled up to the brim, stretched to his limit started building up. It was better than good actually. It was turning perversely good. He was enjoying himself so much that he almost missed when the climax hit him, making his entire body shudder and clench and his cock spurt. The sensation of Logan dragging him almost into his lap and spilling in him was what finally brought him back.</p><p>Charles opened his eyes a moment or a few moments later. It was difficult to say. He was half-asleep. Not because he was tired this once, but because he was as relaxed as he had not been for a while.</p><p>“I’m going back to sleep,” he murmured for Logan’s sake and dragged the blanket over his head.</p><p>When he woke up again, it took him a while to become aware. Charles let himself a moment too many to blink at the ceiling sluggishly. One of the windows was held open by the plank. It let fresh, spring air inside and golden sunrays that managed to sneak through the tree crown.</p><p>His soul was at peace. At perfect place and perfect time. The level of discord within and around him appeared unbearable lately. He, who should maintain the balance in the realm, almost failed to do so within his mind, his heart. He must take responsibility and move on, honoring the dead, but protecting the living first and foremost.</p><p>Peace over conflict. Trust over fear. Those were the truths he firmly believed in. It felt though that the words that came to him were incomplete, lacking.</p><p>He dismissed that thought for future meditations.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
By the stroke of luck, there was plenty of firewood in the area. Logan weighed his axe in one hand, mulling over what to do. Normally, he should start chopping it already to let the wood dry during summer. Winter did not forgive those not taking her seriously.</p><p>He was not sure now whether he should bother.</p><p>He heard Charles coming closer and buried the axe in the log, pushing his thoughts away.</p><p>As he turned back, his first impulse to comment on Charles’ sleeping habits died with one look at his face.</p><p>Charles was positively glowing. There was something about his features that seemed different from before. The worry lines had all but smoothed out, leaving his already youthful face so agonizingly beautiful, his blue eyes alight with such bright, clear conviction that Logan could not help himself.</p><p>“You are so beautiful,” he said roughly.</p><p>Charles’ eyes widened at that. It was unfair how oblivious he remained, so Logan grabbed him and pulled him close. Because he could do it now. And because Charles was happy to respond.</p><p>Charles flushed a little, though the gleam in his eyes betrayed his pleasure.</p><p>“There you are. I want to talk to you,” he frowned, as though recalling something. “By the way. Was it good for you? I mean, this morning?”</p><p>“Are you keeping a score or what?”</p><p>“No, just collecting references,” Charles said dryly.</p><p>Logan smirked. However big his enjoyment from teasing Charles was, he would not deny that the question stirred something within him too.</p><p>“It was very good,” he told Charles thoughtfully. “You have been with me. Not in your head like before.”</p><p>He tapped his temple to show what he meant. As he said it, he realized how true it was. Charles had never been his, no matter how many times he fucked him. Now that Logan knew what being with him was like, what it did to him as a person, he saw it clearly. He registered an ominous afterthought, a warning whisper born of past experiences, and promptly nipped it in a bud. </p><p>“Oh, it’s really good. It was wonderful for me too. I think you should know.”</p><p>They fell silent, and while Charles was chewing on his lower lip, Logan was waiting.</p><p>“There is no easy way to say it, so I will say as it is. I need to get back to Chester,” Charles told him. “What I saw in the vision is disturbing me still. Chester is the only place I can safely say I recognized.”</p><p>Charles took to studying the forest floor upon saying that. His problems were mounting, while he was staying here, in a place that could only guarantee short-term safety. It was good that he understood this.</p><p>“Are you well enough to travel?”</p><p>“I will be. I don’t want to leave today.”</p><p>He was thinner now and hardly a picture of strength, but Logan did not recall him being particularly hulky.</p><p>“When do you want to leave?”</p><p>“In two days.”</p><p>“So be it. You have no choice,” Logan said.</p><p>“It is a depressing notion, but you are essentially right.”</p><p>Logan nodded, but did not speak. There was something else.</p><p>“This is not actually what I wanted to tell you,” Charles stared at him. “It is my fault, I have not been thinking clearly all this time and I am sorry.”</p><p>What a start, Logan thought darkly.</p><p>“A little advice, Chuck. If you are going to say something bad, you can skip the foreplay.”</p><p>“Alright,” Charles said uneasily. “I realize now that there is magic that can be used to trace me. Or mystics that are powerful enough to walk the in-between. It does not matter. Whoever they are, they seem well prepared. They will trace me back to you, Logan, it is a question of time and this is a risk I will not take.”</p><p>Logan expected to hear anything but this. What was he thinking? How did it even work in his head?</p><p>“I will go with you,” Logan told him slowly so that it would be clear.</p><p>Charles’ astonished expression would be comical, if it were not so frustrating.</p><p>“No, you can’t.”</p><p>“Yes, I can.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Why do you think?”</p><p>“Logan, please!” he sounded really upset. “I almost died. And even though you may see a kid — I can’t believe I am going to say it, — but I am difficult to kill.”</p><p>“I told you. I can’t let you die. And the Chaos, Charles.”</p><p>“What?” Charles frowned.</p><p>“I am not a spiritual man, I tell you.” Logan felt uncomfortable talking about this. “I do not know things about the realms and the paths. The way you talk about it, how you explain it to me, it gets so clear, you know. I don’t know what the hell is going on. I know I did not want to go anywhere near that citadel. And I was made to, I had to. I am glad I did now. How about the pond? Maybe you are right and they can sense you. Maybe it is something else.”</p><p>“You think so?” Charles looked at him as though he had not seen him before. “Do you believe in it?”</p><p>“You don’t?”</p><p>“Probably,” Charles muttered. “You do this to me every time. Make me question things.”</p><p>If only you knew what you made me do, Logan thought.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Charles wanted to think alone.</p><p>The trees by the creek were slender and young compared to the ancient ones in the forest. Small yellow flowers were blooming by the water. He felt encapsulated within the forest, but it was a content, quiet feeling. It might be because Logan was within a calling distance, working by the house. His unseen presence gave Charles the feeling of security. </p><p>He picked the stone by the stream, warmed up by the afternoon sun and large enough to sit on, and slipped in between focus and absence. As always, magic lines came alive, gleaming, after only a few blinks. The ley lines that he saw running down the mountain were in harmony. No one abused the flow here in ages. He called upon the water, pulling a sphere from the stream with ease. It was sparkling above his hand beautifully, a myriad of droplets reflecting the sun. He knew many tricks like that, the tricks that Erik would have called useless. He also learned how to soothe children’s nightmares with magic, how to entertain them, how to protect them from mild inconveniences and harm.</p><p>His memories retreated, chased away by sheer tranquility.</p><p>He closed his eyes, breathing. Despite his peaceful surroundings, he harbored no naive illusion. He was in the center of the unknown web, and the hungry spiders were closing in, one way or another. Many, many years ago a new force was born in the world. The Guardian appeared. To stand above the good and the evil. Now the nature of the cycle was twisted and he, the last one, was to pay the price and shoulder the burden of change. Every time the connection was brimming with energy, he felt truly impartial. He was feeling it now too. He saw his path, the bits he remembered, flicker in quick succession. Unfazed, he observed his struggles as a child and then, abruptly, as a young man in a possession of the power he did not understand. He saw himself and his first and only friend at the time arguing, and the chasm between them growing bigger and bigger. He saw the other’s jealousy and bitterness. He saw his stubborn nature struggling to balance out Erik’s obsessive character. Out of all the paths they had had to choose from, the one they have stepped onto was the road of separation.</p><p>What about the Chaos?</p><p>He knew what Logan was talking about. His Chaos was everywhere, yet unseen. It was no land of men, but the realm of the Ancients, of all the gods that came to pass and were to be born as of yet. It was hell and heaven at once. The Chaos let the red and steaming blood of the deer that Logan had killed attract a fox family, feeding both man and fox. The deer that also had a family and a soul. The deer that was struck dead in the meadow by the stone pyre Charles had made. For the innocent children cut down by the sword. This Chaos was the knowledge and the stark absence of any. Predictability and the absence of such. The union of the opposites. Life itself was foreordained by its divine nature.</p><p>Charles’ Chaos was mana. It was in his blood, the gift that cemented the inevitability of his fate. Whether trained or not, the Guardian or not, his mana and ability to bend the principles of the world would always be his own. His Chaos was in the way Logan made love to him, penetrated him, the way he gave Charles his cock, and Charles took him in, filled by the other man’s seed, by his mana. Charles saw now that his Chaos was about his bonds and his magic.</p><p>He opened his eyes, gradually returning to his senses. The last sunrays were about to disappear. The skies were tinted pink and orange, with the dark blue eating the lighter colors. The creatures of the night were waking. He could hear the echoes of howls and the shuffles. He lost a lot of time meditating, but it was time well-spent.</p><p>As Charles attempted to stand, he had to help himself by placing his hands back on the stone. He felt dizzy, lightheaded. His body needed a few minutes to readjust.</p><p>He squinted ahead in the falling darkness and found Logan leaning on the tree up to eight paces away.</p><p>“I was not here all the time,” he grumbled, words laced with an apology, as he came up. “Just checking from time to time.”</p><p>Charles smiled. His lips were trembling only a tiny bit.</p><p>He moved to meet him and his hands cupped Logan’s face. Tilting his head, Charles kissed him on the lips, his chin rubbing against the stubble. Logan was not much of a kisser. In fact, his reaction was perfectly neutral compared to the rest of the people Charles had the opportunity to kiss. But he pulled Charles closer. There, in the circle of his arms, Charles exhaled.</p><p>“What are the summers here like?” he asked, almost face to face with the other.</p><p>“Unpredictable and rainy,” Logan deadpanned.</p><p>Charles snorted.</p><p>“I see why you favor this place,” he said, smiling.</p><p>Logan looked unimpressed.</p><p>“Also nice and warm,” he said. “You can see the storms being born at the top.”</p><p>He nodded to the highest peak hidden in the dark now.</p><p>“Glorious,” Charles beamed.</p><p>He was torn between joy and a sudden spark of anxiety; he felt a deep ache inside him. Brushing his soul, it was almost like a premonition. They planned to leave tomorrow in the afternoon and, as of now, Charles was having mixed feelings about the decision.</p><p>They came back together, to the house warmed up and lit up by the fire and two thick dusty candles Logan found gods know where.</p><p>Charles started undressing by the door, quietly. He pulled off all his clothes and waited. The prickling all over his skin made him shiver. Logan frowned when he came up closer, he touched the center of his bare chest where the white patch of skin was.</p><p>“You have a scar here. It is almost where your heart is.”</p><p>“It is from ten years ago,” Charles gulped, his heart was definitely responding with a wild resonance. “I probably have a few on my back now.”</p><p>“You do.”</p><p>“How does it look?” he realized he did not even consider it. All wounds not healed properly within some time would scar. He turned around, obviously expecting a report, but Logan surprised him. He embraced Charles from behind.</p><p>“Well,” Charles said stupidly when he felt the back of his neck being kissed.</p><p>Logan was not done. His kisses were heavy, the way his stubble scratched Charles’ neck was divine. Charles tilted his neck to the side and hissed when the kiss turned into a light, teasing bite. It seemed that Logan read his mind and wanted to prove himself now. When Logan groaned and grabbed him by the neck Charles was sure he blacked out for a beat. His body was suddenly quite hot and it was getting harder to breathe.</p><p>“Get down on the floor.”</p><p>Such a pity, Charles silently lamented, such a pity there was not a decent bed nearby.</p><p>Charles’ ass was the next evening’s treat, fingered and lavished before served. Logan did not leave a spot on his buttocks unkissed. Charles stayed on his hands and knees to have his hole properly ridden. He found he enjoyed this position, not to mention he knew what that view was worth. He squeezed his eyes, panting through the burn of penetration.</p><p>They fucked a mere few times, but Charles could tell that he started getting rather used to having Logan’s big cock wedged in him. That sudden thought came while Logan was pumping his hips deliberately slowly, his huge prick moving in and out of Charles with the stretch that was translating into raw, addictive pleasure.</p><p>Logan grabbed him by the waist as his thrusts quickened. His pelvis was slapping wetly against Charles’ ass, at the same time Charles’ inner walls were loosening from the repeated penetration. Logan kept bouncing him on his cock, almost growling, and Charles pushed back eagerly, meeting his thrusts, gradually becoming lost in the cadence. His knees were sliding back and forth with the motion, insides hot and tight, his head empty, so close to his undoing.</p><p>Logan spilled first. His hot seed in Charles’ channel felt now as so much more. He pumped his hips into Charles a few more times, as though simply coming in him was not enough, as if he wanted to push his semen deeper yet.</p><p>“Your ass is so damn good,” Logan groaned, punctuating it with a final thrust.</p><p>Charles moaned happily, the compliment hitting right in. His poor cock was neglected all this time, but he felt like he could not ask of anything tonight. Logan pulled out, manhandling him with ease. He forced Charles on his back, pushed his knees apart.</p><p>“You should see yourself now. Your stretched hole is leaking my spunk, mage,” Logan pushed two fingers in.</p><p>Charles started sobbing helplessly. His gaping, sensitive pucker felt so raw, all his feelings were so tender. The tears spilling from his eyes were happy, hopeful tears though. He wanted to please this man so much. He wanted this man to possess him inside out, to keep his hole and his mouth filled with his wonderful, warm cock, he should take Charles and use him for his pleasure whenever he as much as hinted.</p><p>When Charles managed to open his mouth, a stream of babbling came out.</p><p>“Please, please, you can do anything. Anything,” he was gasping, swallowing his tears. “I am yours. Was I good for you? Was I? I want to be. For you, gods, I want to. Only for you.”</p><p>“Hush, hush,” Logan carefully pulled his fingers out, pointedly wiping the sticky mess off them on Charles’ inner thigh.</p><p>He propped himself on his arms over prone Charles. His muscular and hairy body was so imposing in the flickering candle light. Charles felt impossibly weak, lying there beneath such a man.</p><p>“You were good, very good for me,” Logan brushed tears from his cheeks. “Listen carefully. I will fuck you now, boy. Right up the ass again. If you want to be good for me, you will take it. Remember, I will fuck you as many times as I please, however I want.”</p><p>“Yes, please, oh please,” Charles nodded hurriedly.</p><p>He was watching fervently as Logan reached to stroke his huge shaft to full hardness. Charles dared spread his legs wider and hid his eyes, unsure. Should he have waited for Logan’s order?</p><p>“Yes, good,” Logan rumbled his approval. “You are doing very well, boy. Now, let’s open you up.”</p><p>Suddenly, Charles’ legs were on Logan’s shoulders and the man’s cock was pushing back in Charles’ recently fucked anus. He was still slightly open down there: he registered that strong, uncommon sensation that followed deep anal penetration or finger play, joined by the influx of embarrassment and arousal. He winced, as he was also sore and his bowels were not quite ready for a repeated intrusion so soon.</p><p>“You are so good, you are taking me so well,” Logan kept murmuring in his ear as he pushed in bit by bit. “Your hole is so hot. Oh, hell. So hot and wet.”</p><p>Charles was sobbing, conflicted. He was insanely glad that he could please the other. Logan’s words made him hard again, the sting of repeated penetration having made him soft. He was going to be very good, the best Logan had ever had. Encouraged, he tried clenching on the cock that was rubbing the walls of his rectum just now.  </p><p>Logan cursed, his hips jostling forward involuntarily. Charles immediately felt very proud of himself.</p><p>And Logan, he snarled at him.</p><p>“Fuck you,” he bit out.</p><p>It sent a shiver of fear and excitement down Charles’ back.</p><p>Logan’s fervor and his pace became unmatched. He was pounding Charles like a wild beast, his grip on the back of Charles’ thighs bruising and painful. Just a beat ago he was fucking Charles on his back, now he was turning Charles around and pulling him on his knees. He had one arm pressing Charles to his chest, while he helped himself to enter Charles with his cock again. There was something about that change of position, the sharp angle that the cock pushed at inside, that made Charles convulse and his entire body seize up. A few more thrusts and he was spurting, his throat raw from the guttural sound he made. Logan soon followed, coming once more into his fucked out asshole.</p><p>Wrung out and tired, Charles was still aware he was being cleaned up afterwards. The touch of a wet, rough fabric between his legs and around his groin was an uncomfortable but necessary evil.</p><p>“Hope… not my shirt,” he wondered aloud.</p><p>“I will fuck your smart mouth come morning,” Logan huffed, turned Charles on his side, pushing his knee between Charles’ legs on purpose, reigniting all that soreness and the stretch.</p><p>“Will you be good for me and keep it clean?”</p><p>It was through the rush of blood in his ears that Charles managed to mutter a ‘yes’. Logan snorted, satisfied, and petted his flank possessively. The arousal shimmering in his blood did not prevent Charles from falling asleep, all the while contemplating the delights Logan and he could potentially engage in later on. Not a thought of tomorrow.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p><br/>
<br/>
The moon lit the large seal painted on the flat patch of rock. It was unfinished. The final, seventh circle not joined yet. The sigils were twisted unnaturally, their shapes and angles unrecognizable.</p><p>The moon could not lit everything, for there was a horror sleeping deep beneath that mountain. It was trapped in the dark since the times the mountain was young and all the land as far as the bird’s eye could see was covered by thick, dense ice.</p><p>Mortimer glared at the moon. He was freezing up there and nervous anticipation was wringing him from within. He knew he was a coward. He accepted that truth early in life. He tried praying to God, but it did not grant him calm in the face of what was to come.</p><p>He glared at the mage, huddling in his cloak by the small fire. The fire kept getting blown over by the wind and the man kept starting it with magic again. He looked pale and exhausted after feeding the seal. Even though Mortimer had to contribute too, his power was laughingly lacking in comparison.</p><p>“Stop staring,” the man muttered, peering at Mortimer with the dislike that has become familiar over the last few days.</p><p>“Er, sorry,” Mortimer muttered. “There is not much to do. I don’t know…”</p><p>“Don’t know what?”</p><p>“Don’t know what I am doing here,” he blurted. “You and, um, the Guardian. And the beast. And I?”</p><p>“This is the first clever observation I have heard so far. Do go on.”</p><p>Mortimer flushed with shame.</p><p>“Do you believe in your mission?” the man’s tone turned smooth and inquisitive.</p><p>“Of course! I am fully devoted,” the young man said immediately.</p><p>“Then, pray for your life. You are here because you are so weak that —”</p><p>He did not finish. His features suddenly twisted and he hunched over, hissing through greeted teeth.</p><p>Mortimer made a protective sign and quickly turned around, trying to ignore the man’s wet, pained coughs. He had it coming, questioning Mortimer’s devotion like that. The God could hear all their thoughts, everywhere.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As dawn approached Charles groaned in his sleep. He rolled away from Logan and was turning and twisting restlessly. The blankets slid down — Logan sat up. He could smell the sweat on his skin, the kind that no happy dream would bring. Charles shivered. He was breathing shallowly, too fast to Logan’s liking. He sounded like an old man with a bad chest.</p><p>“Wake up,” he reached for Charles, clasping his shoulder. “Hey, you are dreaming.”</p><p>Charles abruptly jolted up with a scream; his hand flew up, encased in a magic-shaping seal. It stopped but an inch of Logan’s head.</p><p>Logan did not move, suppressing his instinct to lash out in turn. The spell, sizzling by his ear, was slowly fading. Wide-eyed and completely white in the face, Charles dropped his hand.</p><p>“Hell,” he was heaving. “Forgive me.”</p><p>Logan brushed him off with a gesture.</p><p>“Are you alright?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Charles ran both hands through his dark disheveled hair rumpling it up like a bird’s nest.</p><p>“Water?” offered Logan.</p><p>“Why water? Alright, yes, water is fine. I like water.”</p><p>He was mumbling, not making much sense.</p><p>Logan stood up to get him water and opened the window to let the air in. He crouched on the floor, silently holding a cup. When Charles’ hands brushed his, he noted how cold and clammy they were. Charles grabbed the cup with shaky thanks, gulping it down hurriedly.</p><p>“I don’t remember anything from the dream,” he met Logan’s eyes in the predawn light and shook his head. “Sorry I startled you. And almost assaulted you.”</p><p>“Does it happen often?”</p><p>“No,” Charles denied. “Well, to be honest, I almost never spent the night with anyone.”</p><p>Logan shrugged. He did like how it felt to be chosen, but he would not share yet, choosing to pursue the important things.</p><p>“Do you get nightmares often?” he clarified.</p><p>“Lately, no,” Charles shook his wryly. “I used to dream of that monster trying to break out. Not sure it can be called a dream. The demon is furious, if I am not at my full strength, its strongest intentions are leaking through, I believe,” he sighed. “I feel awful. I need to freshen up.”</p><p>Logan needed it himself. He decided to go to the stream. Cold water made him more alert. When he was coming back to the house, walking towards the beginning of sunrise, Charles met him in the doorway. He had his boots and a cloak on and was watching the skies with unearthly, dark eyes. Unable to keep looking into that abyss, Logan dropped his gaze to Charles’ mouth that was pressed uncharacteristically tight.</p><p>“The lines over the mountain are twisted horribly,” Charles told him gravely, blinking back to the normal blue.</p><p>It unsettled Logan, the intention and distress he read in the other’s eyes.</p><p>“The lines can fuck themselves,” he said bluntly. “What do you even mean? Are there sorcerers nearby?”</p><p>Charles closed his eyes briefly.</p><p>“Do you remember what I told you about the dark arts, the magic that threatens the balance?”</p><p>Logan indicated that he was listening.</p><p>“I have not sensed anything like that before,” Charles continued. “It is bad, Logan. Very bad.”</p><p>“How much time do we have?”</p><p>“None to spare.”</p><p>“They are smoking you out,” Logan cut in brazenly.</p><p>Anger was throbbing inside him, eclipsing his mind. How dare they? How could they manipulate this compassionate fool using his sense of responsibility as leverage?</p><p>“You probably have a point,” Charles said to him gently, watching him as if he understood what was going on with him. The truth was — he just might.</p><p>Logan nodded briskly. He quickly stepped into the house, threw on his leather west, fixed vambraces, and picked up his axe. Charles offered him a hand as soon as Logan came out. When Logan clasped it, he dragged his soft thumb over Logan’s knuckles, rubbing the skin tentatively.</p><p>“Charles,” Logan said. “I will be with you as long as you need me. Do you hear me?”</p><p>“Yes,” Charles said solemnly.</p><p>The familiar teleportation circle flashed out as Charles concentrated.</p><p>“I have not been where we are going. I only have a point of sight to focus on. Please, hold on tight,” Charles instructed.</p><p>Logan squeezed his hand and braced himself.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The blue swirled, fading, and Logan let go of Charles’ hand. They landed on the patch of the rocky plain, just below the mountain snowcap. The sun was rising majestically, ominously painting the horizon in red.</p><p>Logan clasped the axe tight, taking in the layered seal that covered the area and the two men caught in the act. Both reeked of magic. The young one who jumped up almost a foot in the air when he saw the newcomers was a joke. The bastard with aristocratic looks and prickly eyes, who was holding in his hand the strings of the violently pulsing magic from the seal, was trouble. Logan saw the small stones gravitating towards the seal and sensed reverberations of the ground beneath his feet.</p><p>“Erik,” Charles said with great sorrow. “I missed you, my friend.”</p><p>“Charles,” the bastard had his eyes only on Charles. “Your sentimentality will be your undoing.”</p><p>Charles opened his mouth to deny it; of course, he would choose to talk over striking the fellow on the spot. And Logan chose not to listen to that nonsense exchange. If the man Charles wanted to talk sense into wished to communicate, he would have found a way to send a letter. From experience, Logan knew that should the man release the strands, the seal Charles was afraid of would activate. He eyed the other mage, frozen now on the spot. He sniffed. The men smelled weird: beneath the magic, there was a hard, clinging fear and something else. The pox-ridden village Logan had once attempted to settle down in smelled like that. That smell and the memories made Logan’s throat close up, the thing that hardly ever happened to him.</p><p>“What are you?” he grumbled.</p><p>The mage looked at his axe with burgeoning eyes and did not say anything, gaping like a fish.</p><p>Meanwhile, the other conversation was heating up.</p><p>“You don’t know what you are talking about!”</p><p>“Why?” Charles was begging. “Then explain to me, please. Tell me why you out of all people just follow the orders.”</p><p>The man grimaced, his features twisted by the strange combination of anger and despair. Logan thought that chances were Charles hit the man where it mattered the most, and, as usual, was completely unaware of it.</p><p>“Hey, Chuck,” he interfered, grabbing Charles’ elbow. “Try not to antagonize the bastard.”</p><p>Charles gave him a wild look of bewilderment.</p><p>The sorcerer released the spell.</p><p>For a beat, nothing happened. Then the seal flashed, the light from it shooting into the sky.</p><p>The rock under their feet exploded.</p><p>Damn, Logan thought.</p><p>He was falling one moment.</p><p>The next moment, there was darkness.</p><p>Then, there was light piercing his eyes and Charles was pressing his glowing hands to his chest, the twin cuts across his cheekbone bleeding sluggishly. Logan opened his mouth to say that he shouldn’t have bothered until he saw the mess of red that was his chest and the deep open wounds on his torso and stomach. Shrapnel enforced by mana explosion was the worst, he thought. It would take some time to heal after that. He still wanted to tell Charles to back off, but as he opened his mouth — no sound came out. Charles saw him struggling and mutely shook his head. It was then that Logan realized that he could hear nothing but low humming noise filling his ears. It was making his teeth ache and his insides coil. Charles gestured to his ears again and mouthed a ‘no’. The hand he was pointing with was dirty with red blood and dark dust.</p><p>Logan strained his ears. He busted them before, so he knew how it felt. It was something different. As if something sucked out all sounds from the world, leaving only the monotonous humming.</p><p>Logan clasped Charles’ hand, signaling him to stop when he sensed that the flesh was mostly stitched up.</p><p>He levelled himself up to look around.</p><p>The top of the mounting was gone, he realized in grim shock, sliced away like cheese at a sharp angle. The area they have been stuck at was full of pointed rocks and precariously bouncing boulders, the remnants of the explosion.</p><p>He did not see the two men from before; he did not care to look around because he saw <em>it</em>.</p><p>A glowing tear in the rock where the mountain top used to be.</p><p>Gods of Chaos! Logan kept swearing in his head.</p><p>Vaguely human, giant black hands were grubbling around the tear blindly. A horned head was pushing through. Logan knew, without knowing. It was no demon. It was a primordial god waking up.</p><p>Charles stood up. He wiped the sweat and dust from his brow, leaving bloody smears all over it.</p><p>Logan genuinely hated him in that moment. For his principled nature, for his kindness, and all the things he loved him for.</p><p>Charles turned, facing the horror. He took a dozen steps forward, planted his feet firmly, and lifted his glowing arms at his chest level. There were no fancy seals or complicated spells. He stood and he pushed back.</p><p>The humming intensified.</p><p>The pressure of it forced Logan back to the ground. A little bit more and the blood would be coming out of his pores.</p><p>Charles fell on one knee when the horned beast-like head pushed through. Its eyes were closed and an instinct told Logan that should they open — they would die. Charles probably had the same idea. He drew his hand back and threw his magic like a punch. The blue and the black exploded around the tear, turning the rock into dust.</p><p>Logan had to cover his eyes or else he risked being temporarily blinded by stone powder. It was damn strange not to be able to see or hear what was going on. The shaking of the ground beneath him was all he could depend on. He wondered, that instant, what his part in all of this was.</p><p>Small rubble rained over him. The pressure increased until he sensed blood flowing from his nose and ears. His eyes were hurting like mad too.</p><p>Then, a silence fell.</p><p>When the sounds abruptly rushed back, he immediately rolled to his feet. He welcomed the pull of the raw wounds on his chest. It meant he was alive for now. The wind was clearing the dust faster than he thought possible and Logan ran to Charles’ side. He could see the outline of the sorcerer’s back now.</p><p>He did not make it far.</p><p>The movement and the sudden flash on the periphery had him dropping to the ground to evade the spell. He rolled to his back and in time. A longsword was coming down. He clapped his hands, stopping the blade between two palms. The bastard who swang the blade had disbelief in his gaze. Logan kicked at his ankle with a growl. The mage had clearly overestimated himself, pulling the sword on him. With his balance compromised, he lost a precious second that let Logan spring to his feet again. He caught the mage’s sword arm in a lock, pressed it to his side, and rammed his forehead into the bastard’s face with a satisfying crack that resonated in his skull.</p><p>Fuck this.</p><p>Heaving from the pressure on his healing lungs, Logan looked at the fellow lying in the heap at his feet.</p><p>He was considering picking up the sword and finishing him for sure when he heard the steps behind his back. He gritted his teeth, mad. Where were these cowards hiding?</p><p>“Hey, you,” he turned to the younger mage, who stopped in his tracks and gawked at the man Logan had knocked out.</p><p>“He failed,” he squealed.</p><p>“Of course,” Logan spat on the ground, unfortunately missing his target.</p><p>He turned to check on Charles and was relieved to see him slowly getting to his feet to the right. He must be dazed, Logan decided, frowning at his jerky motions.</p><p>The mage started laughing.</p><p>Logan snapped his head back. Either his head was getting muddled or his eyesight was really bad. Why the hell was he seeing things? The mage’s face swam in front of his eyes, distorted, his mouth got wide, the teeth sharpening and growing longer, the split eyes were now glowing red. His skin seemed to tear like the badly fitted clothes, and the blue was peeking through the splits.</p><p>He only had a thought of reaching for the sword, conveniently lying at his feet, when suddenly he could not move. Could not blink. At all.</p><p>“Logan?” Charles turned to him and drew a deep, shuddering breath.</p><p>He looked awful, like after extinguishing the undead monster, but worse. Slowly he turned to the changed mage and moved to stand straight.</p><p>“Release him or I will have to kill you,” Charles said grimly. “You cannot control me.”</p><p>The way he spoke, the words he chose told Logan that he was at his limit. The enemy knew it too.</p><p>He responded, not out loud, but Logan could hear him so clearly.</p><p>
  <em>I do not need to control you. I shall destroy you, Guardian, and feed on your soul.</em>
</p><p>All his thoughts paralyzed, Logan watched himself picking up the sword. The ghosts of everybody he had killed were suddenly pressing down on him, pushing him back in the eternal shadow. The sword was weightless in his hand, more than a hundred years of experience on his side when he attacked.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Technically, it is following "The Tower" I wrote back in 2018, but could be read individually. Unbetaed, so please beware. Anyways, if this is your thing and you enjoy the mix of fantasy, erotic and adventure fiction, feel free.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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